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THE LIFE 



OF 



JOHN PATERSON 

MAJOR-GENERAL 
IN THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY 



HIS GREAT-GRANDSON 
THOMAS EGLESTON. LL.D. 

EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF MINERALOGY AND METALLURGY IN THE SCHOOL OF MINES OF 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK. OFFICER OF THE LEGION 

OF HONOR OF FRANCE. 



ILLUSTRATED 



SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENtARGED 



G. P. Putnam'"^ s^s** 

NEW YORK LONDON 

27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET ' '24; BEDFORD STREET, STRAND 



je Snuhnbochtt 3P«ss / 
1898 



e-?^<>'i> 



9^ 



<o 



Copyright, 1894 

BY 

THOMAS EGLESTON 



Copyright, 1898 

BY 

THOMAS EGLESTON 




Ti^n.;np{ESR£C£IVED« 

Ube^n 



tnicliccboctier press, Dew ]Socii 



1«t COPY, 
1898. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

The discovery of over one hundred letters to and from Gen- 
eral Paterson, more than half of which had never before been 
in print, in the correspondence of various generals of the Revo- 
lutionary War, notably of Generals Heatli and Knox, and 
the finding of a large number of other interesting facts and 
documents, seem fully to have justified tlie second edition of 
his life. It is hoped that these additions may be of interest 
and that some of them may help to make plainer some of the 
difficult passages in the Bevolutionary War. The defenses 
of the Hudson Eiver and the efforts of both sides to obtain 
and retain possession of it, and General Paterson's part in its 
defense, are especially interesting. Six illustrations have 
been added to those of the former edition. 

In preparing this edition I am especially indebted to Pro- 
fessor H. P. Johnson for the discovery of the letters of Gen- 
erals Heath and Knox, and also to many other persons, 
especially in Massachusetts, who have taken the trouble to 
search through the records of the various antiquarian and 
historical societies of that State. For the searches relating to 
General Paterson's landed property, I am indebted to Mr. R. 
C. Rockwell, of Pittsfield, Mass. 

Thomas Egleston. 

New York, July, 1898. 



PREFACE. 

As far back as I can recollect, tlie exploits of General Pater- 
son, associated with those of my g-randfather, were the subject 
of constant stories from my father to all his children, which 
we were never tired of hearing. We wanted the stories re- 
peated over and over again, and sometimes would not be con- 
tent without hearing them three or foiu' times in succession. 
Before graduating at Yale College in 1854 I wished to know 
more about these two men, and was surprised to find so very 
few records of their services and to ascertain that they had 
been almost forgotten in Berkshire County, Mass., where they 
both had lived. I wished then to resuscitate their memories, 
but the battle of life which had commenced made it necessary 
for me to attend to other things. On returning to this country 
on a visit in 1857 I made a search in Lenox, the result of which 
was finding considerable records of my grandfather but only 
a very few of General Paterson.* 

In 1875, being called upon to furnish the details relating to 
both of them necessary for the speech of Judge Rockwell at 
the Centennial in Lenox on the 4th of July of 1876, 1 was aston- 
ished when all that was known was put together to find how 
meager that knowledge was. I at once made up my mind to 
follow out what clues I had, and to write out what information 
I could then olitain, but it made only a few pages of manu- 
script. Some years later I endeavored to have the remains of 
General Paterson and his wife removed to Lenox, which re- 
sulted, however, at that time, in failure \o obtain the consent 
of the heirs. 

* A notice of Major Egleston was published by the New York Genea- 
logical and Biographical Record, vol. xxiii, July, 1892. 



VI 



PREFACE. 



Ill tlu' year 1886 I put up in Triuity Clim-ch iu Lenox, Mass., 
tablets to the ineniory of (ieneral Patersou and Major Egles- 
tou. After they were up and a gi-eat deal of public interest 
had been shown in them, I commenced a series of systematic 
searches in the libraries of New York, Albany, Hartf ord,Worces- 
ter, and Boston, with a determination to honor the memory of 
my two grandfathers in a more conspicuous way, with a satis- 
factory result. I also determined to make another effort to 
have the remains of General Paterson removed to Lenox, 
which was finally successful. 

When the work was begun I had no other idea than of writ- 
ing a short biographical sketch of General Paterson, but with 
the iiupmy which became necessary, on account of the loss of 
his papers by the burning of his house in 1809, the subject has 
expanded into a book. All that was known of General Pater- 
son at the time these searches were commenced is contained 
in the brief sketch of him made in Judge Rockwell's Centen- 
nial address at Lenox in the year 1876. He had become one 
of Massachusetts' lost heroes.* This wiU sufficiently account 
for the fragmentary character of the information that it has 
been possilile to obtain. t 

If his papers had not been bm-ued much more w'ould have 
been found ; luit while the long and laborious search has re- 
sulted in finding comparatively little, much of this has never 
l)et'ore been pul)lislied, and is valuable not only as throwing 
light ui)on the character of the man, but also as illustrating 
the peculiarities of the times in which he bore so prominent a 
part while he was both advocating and defending the liberties 
of this country. His efforts to build up the State of Massa- 
chusetts, and especially his own county of Berkshire and the 

* Iu July, 1890, Mr. W. H. Lee, of New York, publislied a paper iu the 
Xcw ¥ork Genealogical and Biographical Record ou the life of Geueral 
Patersou. 

t Iu March, 1892, 1 distributed amoug the committees aud persous who 
were to take part iu the eeremouies of the uuveiliug of the mouumeut a 
pamplilet of seveuty pages ou the life of Geueral Patersou. Copies of it 
were also giveu at that time to the representatives of the Press. All of 
these were recalled iu October of tliat vear. 



PREFACE. VI 1 

town of Lenox, have also been pointed ont. The whole book 
shows very clearly the high character that he always main- 
tained in the three States in which he lived. 

I have to acknowledge the courtesy of the lilirarians of the 
various libraries where the searches have been made, and of the 
custodian of the Massachusetts State Archives in the State 
House in Boston, for allowing me access to the books and manu- 
scripts under their charge ; and also of a number of collectors 
of autogi'aphs in permitting me to take copies of their papers. 
I am es]3ecially indebted to Professor Johnston of the College 
of the City of New York, who has not only given me a large 
amount of information, but has advised and assisted me in 
every way in making the searches that were necessary, and 
has aided me in the revision of part of the proof. I am also 
indebted for the active interest of the committee appointed by 
the town of Lenox, for the success of the celel^ration at the 
unveiling of the monument, and to many others who have as- 
sisted me in endeavoring to do honor to the memory of this 
Revolutionary patriot and hero. 

Thomas Egleston. 

School of Mines, Columbia College, 
New York, May 1- 1894. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I.. 

EARLY HISTORY, 1704-1774. 

PAGE 

Major John Paterson. — Removal to Lenox. — The Lords of Trade. — 
Proposal for a Congress. — The Stamp Act. — The Troops in Bos- 
ton. — The Boston Tea Party. — English View of the Tea Party. — 
The Colonial Charter.— The Boston Port Bill.— The Continental 
Congress. — The " Solemn League and Covenant " 1-34 

CHAPTER II. 

THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESSES AND THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, 
1774-1775. 

The First Provincial Congress. — The Second Provincial Congress. — 
The Battle of Lexington. — The Capture of Tieonderoga. — The Pro- 
vincial Congresses. — The Battle of Bunker Hill 35-60 

CHAPTER III. 

SIEGE OF BOSTON TO THE BATTLE OF TRENTON, 1775-1776. 

Petitions to the Provincial Court. — Petitions to the King. — Siege 
of Boston. — Canada Campaign. — Declaration of Independence. — 
March from Canada 61-96 

CHAPTER IV. 

FROM THE BATTLE OF TRENTON TO VALLEY FORGE, 1776-1778. 

Battle of Princeton. — A Standing Army. — Tieonderoga. — Bi*itish 
Plan of Campaign. — Evacuation of Tieonderoga. — Burgoyne's Ad- 
vance. — The Battles of Saratoga. — Surrender of Burgoyne. — Re- 
sults of the Campaign 97-143 

ix 



X TABLE OF CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

VALLET rORGK AND MONMOUTH, 1778 

PAGE 

The English become Conciliatory.— Valley Forge.— The Re^-iew at 
Valley Forge.— Plans for the Spring Campaign.— Evacuation of 
Philadelphia.- Battle of Monmouth 144-171 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE HATED HIGHLANDS, 1778-1783. 

The Highlands.— Naval Maneuvers.— The Highlands.— Sufferings of 
the Army.— Treason of Arnold.— Dark Days.— Tardy Payment of . 
the Soldiers.— Starting for Yorkto^Ti.— Birth of the Dauphin.— 
Petition to Congress.— Duties at West Point.— Command of West 
Point.— Close of the War.— Cost of the War 172-307 

CHAPTER Vn. 

PEACE, 1783-1785. 

Grippy. — The Cincinnati. — The Lenox Court-House. — Small-pox. — 
Interests in Maine. — Lord Paramount of Maine 308-389 

CHAPTER VIII. 

shays' rebellion, 1786-1787. 

General Discontent. — The State Debt. — Sympathy -nath the Rioters. 
— Conventions. --Grievances of the Farmers. — County Conven- 
tions. — The Lenox Convention. — Stopping the Courts at Great 
Barrington. — Stoppage of the Courts at Springtield. — Action of 
the General Court. — Stoppage of the Courts at Springfield. — Or- 
ders of General Lincoln. — The Attack on Springfield. — Action of 
the General Court. — The Insurrection in Berkshire County. — Gen- 
eral Paterson's Letter. — Amnesty Offered the Rebels. — The Re- 
bellion in Berkshire. — Close of the Rebellion. — Pardoning the 
Rebels.— Causes of the Rebellion 330-383 

CHAPTER IX. 

the pursuits of peace, 1787-1808. 

Religious Intolerance. — The Intermission. — The Village Choir. — 
Muster-Day.— Tlie Boston Purchase. — General Paterson in Con- 
gress. — General Paterson's Children. — General Paterson's Serv- 
ices.— Character of General Paterson 383-408 



TABLE OF CONTEXTS. XI 

APPENDIX. 

PAGE 

A. The Paterson Families 409 

B. Will of Major Paterson 410 

C. Bond of Major Paterson as Paymaster 411 

D. Part of the Subscription List to Build the Lenox Court-House, 413 

E. Appointment of Massachusetts Major-Generals 414 

F. Defense of General Paterson 414 

G. Revolutionary Diary of General Paterson 415 

H. Ceremonies of the Unveiling of the Paterson Monument in 

Lenox 419 

I. List of Books Consulted 448 

J. The Paterson Genealogy 450 

K. Congressional Resolutions Relating to Coinage 452 

L. Letters of General Washington and General Putnam in Rela- 
tion to the Ohio Scheme 454 

Index 463 

Genealogy of General Paterson's Family End of volume 



ILLUSTKATIONS. 



1775 



General Paterson, from the Monmouth Battle Monument 

AT Freehold, N. J Frontispiece 

Plan of Major Paterson's Farm in Farmington, Conn., as 

IT WAS IN 1760 

House in which Mrs. Paterson was Born 

Boston and Vicinity. Map No. 1 

Part of the American Lines in the Seige op Boston in 

Map No. 3 

Skirmish at the Cedars. Map No. 3 

Plan of Ticonderoga. Map No. 4 . . 

Battle of Trenton. Map No. 5 . 

Battles of Trenton and Princeton. Map No 

The Hudson River and the Highlands. Map 

First Battle of Bemis Heights. Map No. 8 

Second Battle of Bemis Heights. Map No. 9 

Surrender of Burgoyne. Map No. 10 

Encampment at Valley Forge . 

Battle of Monmouth. Map No. 13 

Council at Hopewell before the Battle of Monmouth 

Map No. 11 

Plan of West Point. No. 13 . . . 
Plan of General Paterson's Farm in Lenox, 
General Paterson's House in Lenox, Mass. 
Tablet in Trinity Church, Lenox, Mass. 
The Paterson-Egleston Monument, Lenox, Mass. 



6 . 

No. 7 



Mass. 



10 
11 

57 

58 

87 

93 

99 

100 

137 

133 

134 

136 

144 

163 

167 
175 
313 
313 
399 
445 



MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY HISTORY. 



The Patersons were some of the earliest settlers of Wethers- 1704-1708' 
field, Connecticut. It appears on the records of that town that 
''Mr. James Paterson and Mrs. Mary Talcott were married 
on the thu'tieth day of November Anno Domini 1704, by Mr. 
Stephen Mix, minster." She was the widow of Samuel Talcott, 
who died in "Wethersfield, April 28, 1698, a cousin of Joseph 
Talcott, who was at a later period governor of the colony. 
They came from Dumfriesshire, where the family had been 
a prominent one for a considerable period. WiUiam Pater- 
son, who was born in 1660, founded the Bank of England 
in 1692, and was a member of Parliament in 1708. He died 
in 1719.* In 1705 James Paterson was chosen "Lister" 
(Assessor) of the town of Wethersfield, and in 1707 he was 
chosen Townsman (Selectman). 

Their son, John, was born on February 14, 1707-8,t and was 

* It was this William Paterson who wrote nearly two hundred years 
ago : " If the maritime powers of Europe will not treat for Darien, the 
period is not far distant when America will seize the pass. Their next 
move will be to hold the Sandwich Islands. Stationed thus in the 
middle, and on the east and west sides of the New World, Americans 
will form the most potent and singular empire that has appeared, be- 
cause it will consist not in the dominion of a part of the land of the 
globe, but in the dominion of the whole ocean. . . . Then England 
may be known only as Egypt is now." 

f In the old records the dates are given as 1707-8, which, according 
to the present method of reckoning, means 1708. By the old system 

1 



2 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1707-1750 baptized by Mr. Mix, of Wethersfield, on February 22, 1707- 
8, showing that he was still a member of the Wethersfield 
church. Mrs. Paterson died on September 28, 1712. Soon 
after his wife's death, James Paterson removed to the west 
part of the parish. Farmington was annexed to the Newing- 
ton society in October, 1715. This union continued until 
1754, when this part of Farmington was made a part of a new 
parish called New Britain. He was, therefore, a member of 
the Newington society between 1715 and 1754, but not before 
or after that period. On February 27, 1711, he signs, as 
executor, the inventory of an estate, which is valued at 
£232-10. He was a member of a committee "to order the 
prudentials of the society " of Newington on December 15, 
1718, and in 1722 was one of "the Seating Committee," as 
they lived in the Stanley quarter, in Farmington, which was 
annexed to Newington during that period. John Paterson is 
mentioned frequently in the society records, and always with 
the title of Mr. His name first appears on the church books 
on December, 1728, when he was appointed one of the col- 
lectors "to gather the minister's rate and the society rate." 
In May, 1732, he with other inhabitants of Farmington pe- 
titioned to have a committee appointed " to lay out roads and, 
highways to relieve the difficulty of going to public worship." 
His tombstone id Newington, where he always attended church, 
records that he died December 2, 1750, aged eighty-six years.* 
His son, John, removed to Farmington and lived in that 
part of the town which is now known as New Britain, and 
was one of the three families who settled in the town.f He 

the year began on the 25th of March. All the records up to 1752 gave 
the date between January 1 and March 25 in this way, or else they 
ignore the new arrangement and call the year 1707 until March 25th. 

* See Appendix A. 

f There was another family of Patersons in the same neighbor- 
hood. William Paterson, with his brother Edward and sister Anna, 
came from Scotland to Wethersfield in 1740. He was a member of the 
Great Swamp Parish. William Paterson was a man of wealth. He 
married Sarah Dunham, and is believed to have introduced the manu- 
facture of tinware into this part of Connecticut. 



MAJOR JOHN PATERSON. S 

received a liberal education, and was a man of uncommon 1731-1775 
ability and refinement. On January 28, 1730-1, he married 
Kuth Bird, daughter of Joseph Bird, of Farmington, by whom 
he had four daughters and one son : 

Mary, born December 5, 1731, at Farmington. She mar- 
ried John Pierce, of Litchfield, on April 18, 1751. They 
had six children, one son and five daughters, John 
Pierce, Jr., born 1752, Mary, born 1754, Anna, born 
1758, Susan, born 1762, Kuth, born 1764, Sarah, born 
1767. 
John, Jr., married Anna Bard in 1772, and had three 
children. He entered the army May 31, 1775. On 
February 10, 1776, he was appointed Assistant Pay- 
master-General of the Continental Army. He had served 
in the Connecticut Colony troops in a similar capacity. 
He was promoted to be Deputy Paymaster-General on 
June 7, 1779, " to serve at the Headquarters of the 
army." On January 17, 1781, he was promoted to be 
Paymaster-General, with the rank of Colonel. He re- 
tained his position after the close of the war, and was 
made Commissioner, to settle the accounts of the army. 
He died in New York on Friday, August 1, 1788. He 
was thirteen years connected with the Paymaster's De- 
partment. He was a member of the Connecticut Society 
of the Cincinnati, and was the thirty-fourth to sign the 
Connecticut roll. He was an able officer, and served his 
country with a fidelity and patriotism, in those days of 
peril and great financial stress, worthy of great admiration. 
Sarah, born in 1767, established a female academy in 
Litchfield, Connecticut, which was one of the most cele- 
brated institutions in the country. She dissolved her 
connection with it in 1832. She died in Litchfield in 
1852, aged 84 years. 
Sarah, born July 13, 1734, at Farmington. She married 
James Lusk, of Farmington, on December 30, 1754. 
On October 19, 1775, they both owned the covenant 



4 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1775-1773 After her death, he married, on October 12, 1775, Abigal 
Belden, daughter of the Rev. Joshua Belden, of New- 
ington, who died in October, 1777. He afterward mar- 
ried Love Graham, daughter of Eev. Joshua Graham, of 
Sheffield. She died at Saratoga Springs, August 5, 
1804. He enlisted in the Revolutionary Array on 26th 
July, 1776. He was appointed Sergeant in the Sixth 
Regiment, of Connecticut, and afterwards became Cap- 
tain. He died at Enfield in 1804. 
Anne, born December 27, 1736, at Farmington, Woodstock. 
She was married to Rev. Stephen Holmes, of Connecticut, 
on January 24, 1754, by the Rev. John Smalley. She 
died near Stephentown, Rensselaer Co., New York, in 
1812. Her father in his will gave her his negro servant, 
Rose, who was baptized in New Britain, November 9, 
1758. 

Stephen Holmes was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, 
on June 4, 1732, and died in Centrebrook, Connecticut, 
on September 13, 1773. He was a son of Deacon David 
Holmes. He graduated at Yale College in the class of 
1752, and afterwards studied theology. In the last part 
of 1754, he was the first candidate for the newly organ- 
ized society of New Britain, then a part of Farmington. 
He preached thirteen Sundays, receiving a compensation 
of ten dollars a Sunday. For some reason, which cannot 
now be ascertained, he was not made pastor of that church. 
A few months after this, he was a candidate at Turkey 
Hills, now East Granby, in the northeastern part of Sims- 
bury. After this, he was again a candidate in Arford, 
near Woodstock, and in Ashford. On November 27, 
1756, he was ordained pastor of the Second Church in 
Saybrook, in the village of Pautapaug, now Centrebrook, 
in the present town of Essex. He was not only the pas- 
tor, but the physician of his people. He was also mter- 
ested in chemical studies. He died September 13, 1773. 



MAJOR JOHN TATEKSON. O 

He had six daughters, three of whom died unmarried 1739-1784 
and are buried beside him at Essex. The three others 
married : one in Essex, and two near Stephentown, New 
York.* 
EuTH, born June 16, 1739, at Farmington. She was mar- 
ried on April 7, 1774, by the Eev. I. Champion, of 
Litchfield, to Jedediah Strong, of Litchfield. She died 
October 3, 1777. 

Jedediah Strong was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, No- 
vember 7, 1738. He was the youngest son of Supply 
Strong and Abigal Bissel, his wife. His father was one 
of the first settlers of Litchfield, in 1723, and owned at 
that time a large part of the township. Jedediah gradu- 
ated at Yale in 1760. He began the study of divinity, 
and was licensed to preach October 4, 1763, but aban- 
doned theology for law, and in 1764 was admitted to the 
bar and settled in Litchfield. He paid more attention to 
politics than to his profession, and was for a long time a 
man of great influence. He was Selectman from 1770 
to 1783, and Town Clerk from 1783 to 1789. He was 
elected to the legislature in 1771, and was regularly a 
member of it for thirty sessions, during some of which 
he was the Clerk of House. In May, 1774, the year of 
his marriage, he was elected a member of the Conti- 
nental Congress, and again in October, 1779, but de- 
clined. In 1774 and 1775 he was a member of the 
Committee of Inspection, and in 1775 he was Commis- 
sary of Supplies of the Revolutionary Army. In 1775, 
the legislature sent bim to Albany to secure " all the 
arms belonging to this Colony, left there during the 
French War." He served in the Connecticut Congress 
from 1782 to 1784 with great credit and distinction. 
From 1780 to 1791 he was Judge of the County Court 
of Litchfield. From 1782 to 1784 he was delegate to 
* Biographical Sketches of Yale College, vol. ii., p. 286. 



6 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1744-1756 Congress. In 1788 he was a member of the State Con- 

vention that ratified the State Constitution. He died in 
Litchfield on August 21, 1802. He had one daughter 
to whom he was devotedly attached. After the death 
of his wife, he married, in 1778, Susanna Wylljs. 
John, was born in 1744 in the parish of Newington in the 
then town of Farmington. He was baptized in the 
Newington church by the Kev. Simon Bachus, pastor 
of that church. He married Elizabeth Lee, of Farming- 
ton, on June 2, 1766. 
On December 3, 1744, John Paterson was appointed in a 
meeting of the society of Newington parish upon a committee 
to obtain the money from Farmington. The two parishes 
were at that time entirely separate. On February 29, 1756, 
he was appointed on a committee to settle the details for the 
admission of the members of the northern part of the parish 
who had previously been excluded from the society. He 
was a very religious man. At the first meeting of " The 
New Britain Ecclesiastical Society," "warned according to 
ye direction of ye law," held June 13, 1754, Captain John 
Paterson was one of " the prudential committee." In May, 
1735, a memorandum to the following effect is made in 
the minutes of the General Assembly of Connecticut as- 
sembled at Hartford : John Paterson and others have given 
bonds for large sums to this corporation for sundry other 
persons that were mortgagers in the late " New London 
Society " to answer for the interest of moneys borrowed by 
them, to draw in their respective parts of bills of the said 
society, and in May, 1749, he and others desire relief and 
ask for a committee to inquire into judgments on loans of the 
late "New London Society." 

By an Act of the Assembly of Connecticut, passed January 
21, 1756, it was ordered that the 400 Acadians who had been 
deported by the order of Governor Lawrence, and allotted to 
Connecticut, should be received by a committee of the Assem- 
bly and distributed throughout the fifty towns of the Colony, 



MAJOR JOHN PATERSON. 7 

instructing the committee to allot a specified number of them 1756 
to each town. The selectmen of the town so designated were 
requested to receive from the committee the number assigned 
to each of them, " and with the advice of the civil authority 
in such town to take care of, manage, and support them as 
tho' they were inhabitants of such town according to the laws 
of this colony. And if said committee shall judge that any 
of said French people, by reason of age, sickness, etc., shall 
be unable to travel or cannot be conveyed from the town 
where they are or may be landed, that in such case said com- 
mittee shall provide for and support such aged, sick, or other- 
wise infirm persons at the charge of the colony. 

" And to prevent such French people making their escape 
out of this colony, it is resolved and enacted, that none of 
them be allowed to depart out of the respective towns where 
they belong without a writing under the hand of some of the 
civil authority of such town allowing of such departure. And 
if any of such French people shall be found in any other town 
than that in which they were ordered to dwell, without liberty 
in writing as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the civil au- 
thority where such persons shall be found to confine such 
persons until upon examination it can be known from what 
town they departed, and when known, to convey them back 
from constable to constable to the towns where they belong, 
there to be confined and not suffei'ed any more to depart 
without liberty, as aforesaid. And said committee are here- 
by directed to take care in distributing said people that no 
one family of them be separated and sent into two or more 
towns."* 

Nine of these Acadians were apportioned to the town of 
Wethersfield, and John Paterson was appointed by the town 
to look after them. 

The condition of the Acadians has always excited a great 
deal of sympathy, part of which is deserved, on account of 
their misfortunes, and part of it is entirely imaginary. To 
* Colonial Records of Connecticut, Act of June 21, 1756. 



8 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1747-1755 say that all tbese misfortunes came as the direct result of 
their want of loyalty to the English, who owned and governed 
the country, does not in any way diminish our sympathy for 
their misfortunes. 

The French settled the lands bordering on the Gaspereau 
River in Acadia in the latter part of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. During all the wars between England and France for 
the possession of Canada, the Acadians always sided with the 
French. Even after France ceded Canada to England, the 
Acadians made continual raids with the Indians on the Eng- 
lish settlers, both at home and on the main land. They did 
not recognize any treaty obligations. In order to stop these 
raids, in 1747, an English Colonel with two hundred and fifty 
men was sent to live amongst them. Incensed at this, six 
hundred French and Indians seci-etly collected and massacred 
the English officer and some of his men. It was to prevent 
such cowardly murders that the Acadians were punished. 
The English colonists did not feel themselves any longer safe ; 
so the Governor of Halifax issued an order that, as the people 
did not respect the authorities or ordinary law, the whole 
population should be deported. The people were collected 
at Grand Pre and Piziquid, and in the middle of October, 
1765, over one thousand Acadians were placed upon four 
vessels and most of them wei-e carried to the far south and 
Louisiana, but many of them were scattered throughout the 
New England towns. Distributed in this w^ay, they became 
harmless. As they were not of the same religion as the colo- 
nists, they were often regarded with suspicion, and, as they 
had nothing, were often in great distress. Poetry has called 
for and obtained much sympathy for these misguided people. 
They were not altogether the peaceful people they have been 
represented to have been. They were always ready for a raid 
with the Indians or on some unoffending settlement and 
abused the English leniency until their transgression became 
a crime. It was only by such heroic measures as were taken 
that the safety of the English colonists was assured. 



MAJOR JOHN PATERSON. 9 

He was tiie first deacon of the church in New Britain, soon 1756-1763 
after its incorporation. He appears to have been a considerable 
holder of real estate, to have owned some slaves,* and to have 
been a man of great refinement and of the highest probity 
and honor. In May, 1756, as agent for the parish of New 
Britain he sent in a memorial showing the state of all the un- 
improved lands in that township, and praying the Assembly 
to grant a tax of one penny on each unimproved acre. The 
directions of his willt required that liis son should be care- 
fully educated. His residence was still standing in 1863. 

He had shown from boyhood a decided taste for military 
life, and had enlisted as a private in one of the train bands 
of Farmington, and was very soon selected for promotion. In 
May, 1738, he was commissioned as ensign in the 5th Company 
of the train band of Farmington. In October, 1741, he was 
commissioned lieutenant in the 2d Company of Kensington 
Parish. In May, 1746, he was commissioned second lieutenant 
of the 4th Company in the expedition against Canada. In Octo- 
ber, 1752, he was made captain of the 13th Company of the 6th 
Regiment of foot. In March, 1755, and 1756, he was again 
made captain. In March, 1756, he was " appointed major of 
the 1st Regiment resolved to be raised by the colony to pro- 
ceed on an expedition against Crown Point, and it is ordered 
that he be commissioned accordingly." He was at the same 
time captam of the 3d Company of the 3d Regiment. As this 
company was raised for tbat expedition, it was disbanded after 
it was over. He was again appointed captain in the 1st Regi- 
ment in 1759, 1760, 1761, and 1762. He assisted in the cap- 
ture of Canada under Sir Jeffrey Amherst, and was with 
Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham. There were many gi-ades 
of military service in those days. It often happened that 
persons holding a higher rank in the train bands or in the 
service of the colony held a lower one in the king's service, 

* His slaves when they died were buried on the high ground back of 
his house, where, in 1849, during the construction of the railroad, two 
graves were opened and one skull disinterred. 

t See Appendix B. 



10 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENEKAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1759-1761 as this service was always considered a much higher honor ; 
and thus in March, 1759, it is recorded that "Major John 
Paterson is appointed captain." While doing duty as a mili- 
tary man he did not neglect civil duties. He was made 
justice of the peace and quorum * in 1756, and held the office 
until 1762. At some time he appears to have held a com- 
mission as colonel, for he is mentioned as Colonel John Pater- 
son, but the date of that commission has not been found. 

He had already shown such military ability, and been such 
a briUiant and efficient officer, that when the French and 
Indian War was threatened he was given a captain's com- 
mission in the British army of the colonies under General 
Wolfe, and served with great distinction both against the 
French and Indians. 

From 1746 to 1762 he was in the service of the crown, and 
was distinguished for his personal bravery, his high sense of 
honor, and his skiU in the command of men. He was one 
of the best and most loyal officers in the royal service and 
in maintaining its supremacy in the American provinces. He 
was equally prominent as a citizen, and held many civil offices 
and positions of trust. He was always, as his record shows, 
equally active and efficient in civil as he was in military affairs, 
and ready to offer his services to the State whenever they were 
requii'cd. The submission of Canada to England did not stop 
hostilities, and in 1761 a fleet under the command of Admiral 
Pocock, with an army composed of eighteen battalions of 
British and Provincial troops, was sent under the supreme 
command of Sir Jeffrey Amherst, who was then Governor- 
General of the British possessions in America, to take Mar- 
tinique and the other French islands in the Caribbean Sea, 
and as Spain and England were unfriendly at that period, it 
was proposed to take the Spanish West Indian Islands at the 
same time. The army was under the command of Lord Albe- 
marle, who had under him eleven companies of the 1st Regi- 

* This term was formerly used to designate certain justices of the 
peace, the presence of at least one of whom was necessary for the lawful 
transaction of business. 



MAJOR JOHN PATERSON. 11 

ment, or 1000 men from Connecticut, 500 from New Jersey, 1762 
and 300 from New York, under command of Major-General 
Lyman. It arrived off Havana on June 6, 1762, in 200 trans- 
ports. John Patersou was ordered to this expedition as 
captain in the king's forces in command of a company of 100 
picked men from Farmington and Wethersfield. He served 
in tliis campaign as paymaster.* He went, accompanied by 
his faithful negro London, who was his body-servant. They 
took Havana, but tlie climate was so fatal that not half of 
the men of his company ever returned. After serving his 
country and Ms king for twenty-four years Major Paterson feU 
a victim to the yellow fever, and died during the expedition, 
on the 5th of September, 1762, aged fifty -four, and thus ended 
the career of one of the most brilliant of the colonial military 
men. During the whole of his life there was little to distm'b 
the relations between the mother-country and the colonies. 
The French and Indian wars kept both fully occupied. Connect- 
icut had her charter, obtained by Lord Clarendon and granted 
by Charles 11. in 1662. She had always elected her own gov- 
ernors, and had few of them. George II. only thought of hin- 
dering the development of the colonies for fear of their compet- 
ing with England. George HI. had not yet been on the throne 
two years, and was just commencing to devise how he might 
impose on the colonies, when this loyal and brave soldier fell. 
John, his son, and the subject of this sketch, was born in 
174-1 in Newington. He was fitted for coUege in his native 
town, and graduated at Yale College in 1762 ; t the year after, 
the order was given to issue " writs of assistance," which gave 
to the revenue officers of the lowest rank the right to enter 
any private house to search for smuggled goods, which aroused 
such indignation everywhere ; and the same year that Gov- 
ernor Bernard ordered the Massachusetts Assembly to pay 
four hundred pounds which he had expended without their 
authority, and which they refused to do. On his gradu- 

* See Appendix C. 

t His father directed in his will that he should have a collegiate edu- 
cation. See Appendix B. 



12 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1762-1767 ation he returned to New Britain, to the home of his parents 
on the north end of East Street. A few weeks afterward lie 
received the news of the death of his father at Havana, and at 
once decided to remain at home with his mother and youngest 
sister, Ruth. He was then just eighteen years of age, and as 
the only son the care of his father's famUy fell upon him. He 
gave some time to the settlement of his father's affairs and the 
duties of the estate, but soon carried out his purpose of studying 
law. Wliile engaged in preparation for legal practice he taught 
school for several seasons. His neighbors were the Judds, 
the Lees, the Smiths, and Dr. Smalley, and in these families 
he found pleasant and congenial acquaintances. Oliver Ells- 
worth, LL.D., afterward chief -justice of the United States, and 
Nathaniel Emmons, D.D., an eminent theologian, were students 
■v\4th Dr. Smalley during this time. They were both a year 
younger than Paterson, but were among his intimate friends.* 
He commenced the practice of law in New Britain, though 
still teaching in the public school a part of the year. Very soon 
after he commenced practice he was made justice of the peace. 
He was married by Dr. Smalley on June 2, 1766, to Elizabeth, 
only child of Josiali and Hannah (Warren) Lee, of Farming- 
ton, who was born in 1749. They "owned the covenant" 
January 25, 1767. She was an attractive lady, in all respects 
fitted to encom-age the young lawyer and to be the wife of 
the future general and judge, who did so much for the early 
history of this country. She was in man}^ respects a remark- 
able woman. Those times were well fitted to make heroines 
of the women as well as heroes of the men, and there were 
many of them. Mrs. Paterson was always at her husband's 
right hand, whether it was to roll cartridges for the sol- 
diers, to help prepare uniforms to give them a suitable ap- 
pearance, to encourage them to enlist for the defense of then* 
rights, to receive his friends and entertain them, and to see 
that his household, whether he was a general, a representa- 
tive of the State or the nation, or a judge on the bench, 

* " History of New Britain," by D. N. Camp. 







rv 



^; 











REMOVAL TO LENOX. 13 

was always well ordered. She outlived him many years, and 1767 
died at the age of ninety-two, in the year 1841. 

He soon became distinguished in his profession. They con- 
tinued to live at his father's old homestead until 1774. Early 
in that year he removed to Lenox, Berkshire County, Mass., 
with his family, his father-in-law accompanying him. 

There had up to this time been no cause for complaint in 
Connecticut. The people there were keenly ahve to what was 
going on in Massachusetts, and waited eagerly for news of 
what was passing there. By the time that the news of the 
Boston tea party had reached Farmington he had made up 
his mind to remove to Lenox. It is not known what at- 
tracted him to the town. It may have been that among the 
people living there was a General Joseph Paterson, whose 
name appears on the town records of Lenox as early as Jan- 
uary, 1765, or it may have been his desire to be on the fron- 
tier. He became at once identified with the interests of that 
town, and his abilities as a leader of men were soon recog- 
nized. Almost as soon as he arrived he was chosen Clerk 
of the Propriety. 

On March 22, 1774, the following record appears in the 
book of the Lenox proprietors : " Voted and chosen Mr. John 
Paterson Clerk of said Propriety, whereupon the following 
oath was administered to him by Mr. Justin Brown : Whereas 
you, Mr. John Paterson, are chosen Clerk of the Proprietors 
of this district of Lenox, you do swear that you will enter 
all the votes, grant orders that shall be legally passed by said 
Proprietors, in the Book for that purpose, and in all things 
relating to your Office will act faithfully and impartially, 
according to your best will and judgment. So help you God." 
When the town was formed he was elected to represent it 
in the session of the Great and General Court to be held in 
May, 1774. He was made a selectman and assessor of the 
town, and was re-elected the following year. 

The history of Lenox is a very short but interesting one. 
Berkshire was set off from Hampshire County by the General 
Court in May, 1761. On February 26, 1767, Governor Fran- 



14 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1767 cis Bernard signed a bill to incoi-porate the easterly part of 
the town of Richmont into a district called Lenox. It was 
not to be a town, and did not become so until later, as the 
towns were entitled to send representatives to the General 
Court, and the districts were not. Its fii'st town meeting was 
held on March 11th. The two towns held joint meetings 
nearly a year longer. The proprietors of Lenox maintained 
an independent organization within the district of Lenox, so 
that for a time there are three records and for about seven 
years a double record of the town, that of the proprietors and 
of the district. These were generally merged into those of 
the district. Mr. John Paterson was the last Clerk of the Pro- 
priety. He was sworn in, but made no entry in the book. 

The great majority of those who settled the county came 
from the Connecticut Valley in both Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut, some from eastern Massachusetts, and a few from 
Rhode Island. They were a shrewd, hardy race, weU educated 
for those days, accustomed to think for themselves, but hav- 
ing a great deference for authority, paying gi-eat respect to 
rank as weU as official position. " Fear God and honor the 
king" applied not only to "his gracious Majesty" but to all 
his officials. They had a charter; they respected it; they 
demanded that it should be respected. When they had griev- 
ances, to them the proper manner to find redress was to carry 
the matters to the throne, and there they loyally carried them. 
It was only when they began fully to appreciate that remon- 
strances did not iDring redi'ess, but that encroachments were 
constantly made on their chartered rights, and when they saw 
them going little by Uttle, that they commenced to reahze 
that their charter might disappear altogether, and that they 
began to say among themselves, " The king hath two superi- 
ors : his Heavenly King and his own law ; " the simple assertion 
of which truism showed how deep the discontent was. Not- 
withstanding this, they loved, as it was theu*. religious duty to 
do, " the king and aU the royal family," and they were proud 
to bear any office under the government of Great Britain ; but 
there was a spu-it of respect for independence of principle 



THE LORDS OP TRADE. 15 

which made criticisms of the conduct of the governmeut uot 1767 
very dangerous to the " liberties of America," but a constant 
menace to theii' loyalty to the king. 

The history of the causes which produced the war of the Rev- 
olution is much more easily traced than those which have pro- 
duced revolutions in other countries. It seems at fii-st a little 
singular that a people proud of their origin and devotedly 
loyal to their sovereign should aU at once refuse to recognize 
his authority and demand complete separation from the 
mother-country. The American Revolution may almost be 
said to be the struggle which put an end to the idea that the 
people were made for their rulers, which up to that time had 
been the prevailing idea of kings and nobles. 

Since 1675 the government of the colonies had been in the 
hands of a committee of the privy council known as the Lords 
of Trade. They looked on the colonies very much as the 
noblemen of those days regarded their great landed estates, 
and on the colonists as the laborers who were working them 
for the greatest advantage of the mother-country. They 
therefore considered the resources of the colonies solely as a 
means of increasing the public revenue, and on themselves as 
the only authority for ordering how this was to be accom- 
plished. It is only when the actions of this body are regarded 
in this light that they can be understood or explained. All 
the governors sent frequent and full reports of every detail 
relating to both public and private affairs to the Board of 
Trade. With the exception of Pennsylvania and Maryland, 
where they were hereditary, and Connecticut and Rhode Isl- 
and, where they were elected by the people, the governors of 
the colonies were appointed by that board. As they repre- 
sented the crown, they on aU occasions assumed the preroga- 
tives of the crown ; and as in those days the people had but 
few rights, the governors were apt to take it for granted that 
any attempts on the part of the people to assert any of theii* 
rights were the assumptions of a stiff-necked and rebeUious 
people, and they so represented it to the authorities in the 
mother-country. The people, on the other hand, had always 



16 LIFE OF HIAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1767 discussed their public business in town meetings and popular 
assemblies, and had had such control over the conduct of their 
own affairs that they were in reality the freest people of those 
times. They elected theii- own representatives to theii- assem- 
blies, and maintained that it was their right to do so. The 
governors, however, asserted that this was a concession on the 
part of the crown and not a right. They therefore commenced 
to grant the privilege in some cases and refuse it in others, 
but this created so much irritation that they were obliged 
finally to give up the practice. 

The people were most loyal, but the only representation of 
them made to the crown was that of constant opposition to 
the royal (governor's) will, and hence the entire misconception 
of both the people themselves and their acts. They were all 
free Englishmen, and because they were free they resented 
unlawfid and arbitrary acts. The governors assumed the 
royal prerogative, but the people, when the governors over- 
stepped what they considered to be then* constitutional au- 
thority, refused to allow them to act, or to vote the necessary 
supplies. As the result of this unwarranted assumption on 
the one side and the constant opposition to it on the other, 
there were few in England, even among those who had lived 
a long time in the colonies, who were capable of understand- 
ing the state of affau-s there, since they were for the most 
part represented by one party only. In England the opinions 
disseminated were of those who were in sympathy with the 
government officers and held their views of the delegation of 
the royal prerogative. This state of things led to the forma- 
tion of organizations on the part of the people for mutual 
conference, and a great desire on the part of the authorities to 
break them up and to make a union of all the colonies under 
the head of a governor-general to be appointed by the king. 

In 1754 the danger of war with the French led to the calling 
of a congress at Albany to present a plan of operations against 
the French. During the sessions of this congress the idea 
of a congress of all the colonies was earnestly advocated, 
but it came to nothing ; only the seed was sown which was 



PROPOSAL FOR A CONGRESS. 17 

afterward to grow. The idea of the government and of 17C7 
the governors was, that such a union would lessen the expense 
of conducting the government and concentrate the power in 
the hands of a single individual. The idea of the people was, 
that with a union and representative assemblies they would 
be protected. The government meant despotism, the people 
meant freedom ; and hence there was not only no union of 
purpose, but an impossibility of immediately carrying out any 
plan which looked toward a union of the colonies in a general 
congress in which the interests of all should be represented. 

While the people recognized that from a military point of 
view such a union as the governors proposed would be an 
excellent arrangement, from their point of view they saw 
just as clearly that it would break up the local seK- government 
of each colony, and they would not listen to any plan which 
would in any way jeopardize or even interfere with it. The 
idea of a union of the colonies was fii'st proposed in 1701 in 
New York, and had been repeatedly before the Lords of Trade, 
but no plan had been suggested which was acceptable both to 
the people and the authorities. But the idea of a union of 
some kind had been more or less a definite one in the minds 
of all the statesmen of those days. The people refused to be 
taxed without their own consent. They declined to vote sal- 
aries and supplies when the government ordered them to do 
so, but they cheerfully voted them when left to their own free 
will. They willingly agreed to make a contribution for the 
support of the English government, but they declined to be 
taxed to support it. Up to the accession of George III., in 
1760, the relations of the colonies and the mother-coiintry had 
been friendly. They would have been entirely peaceful bub 
for the struggles with New France. The people were loyal^ 
and the government, on account of its relations with France, 
did not think it wise to do anything which would, directly or 
indirectly, irritate them. Slight friction there was, as there 
always will be among people who are governed from such long- 
distances. The common object among the colonies was in 
some way to form a union to protect themselves from the In- 



18 LIFE OF IMAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1760-1765 dians and from New France, but there had been no serious 
cause of complaint with the home government for nearly one 
hundred years. George III. came to the tkrone in the year 
17G0. He seems from his youth to have imbibed a prejudice 
against the colonies, and commenced at once a series of op- 
pressive measures which created dissatisfaction and aroused 
opposition on the part of the colonies. The antagonism really 
commenced in 1761, when the people resisted the search-war- 
rants, denied the authority of the king and Parliament to tax 
them without their consent, while they were willing to vote 
taxes in then- own legislatures and were glad to bear their 
part in carrying on the affairs of the great empire of which 
they were proud to be a part. Notwithstanding the repeated 
assertions that no taxes could be levied on the colonies except 
by their legislatures, the lords determined to tax them. In 
1764 Parliament voted to raise a revenue from the colonies by 
means of a Stamp Act. In drawing the act the only limit to 
their measures seems to have been how far it would be safe 
to extort money from the colonies without creating a rebellion. 
Remonstrances at once were sent from aU the colonies ; every 
one of them took the ground that unless they were represented 
and had a vote in Parliament that body had no right to tax 
them. They were wiUiug to contribute then* quota if it was 
requested in the king's name, and when so asked they would 
gladly vote it, but Pai'liament had no right to tax them. 

These remonstrances were of no avail. Early in 1765 the 
Stamp Act was passed, and was received with the tolling of 
beUs and every sign of indignation. Virginia was the first to 
defy it. The people had grown used to the expression of theii' 
opinions, and when, on May 29, 1765, Patrick Henry said, 
" Cjpsar liad his Brutus, Charles his Cromwell, and George 
the Third may profit by their examples," the cry of treason 
which immediately followed from the king's supporters found 
no echo. The other colonies followed. There had never been 
any curtailment of the freedom of speech, and they were ac- 
customed to denounce oppression. A general congress to pro- 
test was called for the 7th of October. Nine colonies were 



THE STAMP ACT. 19 

represented, and those who did not come sent their cordial 1765-1768 
approval. Secret societies, called the Sous of Liberty, were 
formed to resist the law. They burned the stamp officers in 
effigy, they compelled them to resign, and in a few instances 
the mob destroyed their property. The stamps were thrown 
into the sea or burned. Lawyers agreed not to notice the 
absence of the stamp on any legal documents. The act was 
repealed. The news was received with all the demonstrations 
of joy. An addi-ess of thanks was voted to the king, and 
every manifestation of loyalty was made, and for two or three 
years there was quiet. But in repealing the Stamp Act Par- 
liament had asserted its right to make laws binding on the 
colonies " in all cases whatsoever," and in 1767 they proceeded 
to tax them, and among other things they taxed tea. 

The people saw another Stamp Act. They had no repre- 
sentation, and they refused to be taxed except by their own 
legislatures. Massachusetts sent circular letters to all the 
assemblies, addresses were made to the ministry, and a petition 
dispatched to the king. Governor Bernard represented the 
movement, which was unanimous in all the colonies, as the 
action of a few demagogues. The ministry threatened to dis- 
solve all the assemblies who should agree with Massachusetts, 
and directed the governors to suspend any legislature which 
should refuse to vote according to their will. 

The king, receiving the petition with contempt, declared it 
an act of open rebellion ; and so matters went on, until a sec- 
retaiy of state threatened to suspend all the legislative bodies 
in the colonies. The colonies received the news with scorn. 
At last the crown determined to send troops to Boston, the 
chief city of the most rebellious of the. colonies. In February, 
1768, the General Court of Massachusetts addressed a cii'cular 
letter to all the sister-colonies, asking them to unite in meas- 
lu-es to oppose the aggressions of the mother-country, but no 
action was taken on it. Governor Bernard required the Gen- 
eral Court to rescind this letter. Ninety-two members refused 
to rescind; seventeen voted to comply, and at once became 
odious throughout the entire province under the nickname of 



20 LIFE OF ]\L\JOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1768 the " Resciuders " ; but some of these men afterward became 
distiiij2:uished patriots and great leaders in the war. But 
while they resolved " that King George the Third is oui- right- 
ful king, and that we will bear true allegiance to him/' they 
did not hesitate to send such resolves to the governor as made 
him apprehensive of the result. On June 10, 1768, the sloop 
Liberty was seized without a warrant by the revenue officers 
for an alleged violation of the customs, which was not proven. 
Impressment of citizens was commencing to be common. 
Against this the people protested, but it was of no use. The 
affair was misrepresented to the English government, the peo- 
ple were declared to be lawless, martial law was threatened, 
and it was decided to send troops to Boston and make an ex- 
ample of her, and to grant the colonists nothing " except what 
they may ask with a halter round their necks." In Septem- 
ber, 1768, it was announced that the troops were to arrive. 
The governor was asked to convene the assembly and decide 
how to receive them. He refused. The selectmen of Boston 
then notified aU the towns of Massachusetts to send delegates 
to a convention to be held in that city in order to dehberate 
about it. Ninety-six towns sent delegates, who paid no atten- 
tion to the governor's order to disperse, and showed how the 
colony could legislate for itself in the absence of a regular 
legislatiu-e. The law compelled the soldiers to be quartered 
in the regular barracks, which were at Castle William in 
the harbor, and made it a severe offense to quarter troops 
anywhere else until this was fiUed. When quarters were 
asked by the commanding officer, he was shown the law. He 
could do nothing, and the soldiers were actually quartered in 
tents on the Common. As the governor was determined to 
have the troops within easy call they remained in the tents 
until it was so cold that the of&cers were compelled to hire 
quarters at high rates at the expense of the crown. They were 
encamped there seventeen months, and dm-ing this time six 
persons were killed by the soldiers, and this fact was sent to 
England exaggerated into a massacre. But after a trial in Bos- 
ton lasting seven mouths, all the soldiers who had been arrested 



THE TROOPS IN BOSTON. 21 

were acquitted, except two, who were sentenced to only a slight 1768-1773 
punishment, their defenders being John Adams and Josiah 
Quincy, so determined were the people not to find a cause of 
offense against the crown. The General Court met in Boston, 
according to the charter, in the month of May. They imme- 
diately demanded of the governor the removal of the soldiers 
and of the ships in the harbor while they were in session. 
This the governor was powerless to do, so he removed the 
session to Cambridge, as they refused to transact business 
when smTOunded by an armed force. 

The forbearance but determination of the people, and the 
gi'owing dissatisfaction, made Parliament in the spring of 
1769 repeal all the duties except the one upon tea, which 
yielded only three hundred pounds sterling per annum. They 
recalled Governor Bernard to satisfy the colonies, but made 
a knight of him to show how thoroughly in sympathy they 
were with him, and appointed as governor Hutchinson, a 
native of Massachusetts, and a man of great learning. He 
was a sincere man, and had been, previous to the commence- 
ment of the trouble, elected to almost all the offices in the gift 
of his colony. In Stamp Act times he had favored the royal 
government and incuiTed the bitter hatred of the people. He 
was recalled in 1774. His appointment as governor was one 
of the most oppressive of the many unwise acts done by Par- 
liament at this time. They might better have left Governor 
Bernard. The troops remained through the year 1769. They 
led loose Hves. They scandalized the peopl •, besides annoy- 
ing them. In September they assaulted James Otis, so that 
he finally lost his reason. In March, 1770, the firing on the 
people, by which several were killed and others wounded, led 
to the demand for the complete withdrawal of the troops from 
Boston. This was done by such a popular uprising and was 
made in such a peremptory way that the order was complied 
with before sundown, and the troops were withdrawn to Castle 
William. They were encamped for seventeen months in Bos- 
ton, notwithstanding that their presence was odious to the 
people, and their withdrawal was only politic. There had been 



22 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1770-1772 but few collisions. The Avithdrawal of the troops served to 
di\dde the colonists. Many thought this concession enough, 
but the majority were not satisfied with concessions, they 
demanded their rights. In July, 1770, New York withdrew 
from the non-importation agreement which it had agreed to 
in 1765, as it was against their interest to keep it, and in July 
they sent orders to England for all sorts of merchandise 
except tea. The letter of the New York merchants announc- 
ing it was received everywhere with the greatest indignation. 
In Boston it was torn in pieces at a public meeting, in New 
Jersey it was burned on the village green, and the chm*ch bells 
tolled. The citizens of Philadelphia wrote to New York, 
" Send us your liberty pole, as you clearly have no use for it." 
The king now commenced to harass the colonies with vexa- 
tious and unnecessary measures. The search-warrants were 
carried out arbitrarily, and when, in June, 1772, the Gaspee 
grounded in the bay, she was seized and burned to the watei-'s 
edge, and the chief -justice of Rhode Island refused to take 
cognizance of it. In August the king ordered that the judges 
should have their salaries paid by the crown, and not by the 
colony. 

In October, 1772, at a town meeting in Boston, a committee 
was appointed to ask Governor Hutchinson whether the judges'' 
salaries were to be paid by the crown, and to request him to 
convene the assembly to discuss this and other important 
matters. The governor told them that the town had no right 
to petition for the assembly, and ordered them to mind their 
own business. Samuel Adams then moved that a committee 
of correspondence be appointed, so that the colonies, counties, 
and towns could advise one another, could consider what 
infringements and violations of the rights of the colonies had 
been made, and then pul)lish them to the world. The governor 
laughed at the resolution, but by the end of the year more 
than eighty towns had organized their committees, and made 
a new legislative body, and as it was always in session, no 
power but that which created it, i.e., itself, could prorogue or 
dissolve it. This system was followed by the other colonies. 



THE BOSTON TEA PARTY. 23 

It was really the foundation of the American Union. In 1773 
March, 1773, the Assembly met and offered the judges their 
salaries, and threatened to impeach them if they accepted any- 
thing from the crown. While the people were in this state of 
feeling the king resolved on new aggressions in the way of 
taxation. The people, wlio were anxious to live up to their priu- 
ci]>les and stiU not go without tea, had been smuggling it from 
Holland. In order to keep up the failing fortunes of the East 
India Company, the king now proposed to make the tea com- 
ing from England cheaper than they could get it from Holland, 
but restored the duty of three pence per pound, and sent, in 
the fall of 1773, ships to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and 
Charleston. The agents of the East India Company were ap- 
pointed to receive the tea as consignees. On receipt of this 
news the popular wrath was greater than it ever was during 
Stamp Act times. By common consent it was agi-eed, although 
the whole country was greatly excited, to make no resistance 
that was not legal. In New York, Philadelphia, and Charles- 
ton, during the month of October, as a result of this unspoken 
but well-understood resolve, the consignees were asked to re- 
sign their commissions on the ground that to act would make 
them enemies of then- country, and they did so. In Boston, 
on the 18th of November, a committee appointed by a town 
meeting, called on the consignees and asked them to resign, 
and they refused. This changed the situation somewhat, as 
Boston then became the battlefield on which the whole ques- 
tion was to be fought out. As the eyes of the whole country 
were now turned toward that city, the committee of corre- 
spondence asked for advice. The first of the tea ships arrived 
in Boston Harbor on Sunday, November 28th. The committee, 
not-withstanding their Pm-itan j^rinciples, assembled at once. 
A few days later two other vessels arrived. The advice which 
came was not only unanimous but determined ; from Lenox 
to Boston the only reply was, "Let us give up life and all 
that makes life dear rather than submit to this great wrong." 
From Philadelphia they -wTote : " May God give you vu'tue 
enough to save the liberties of your country." The law re- 



24 LIFE OF IMAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1773 quired that a vessel should be unloaded within twenty days of 
her arrival, failing which the revenue officers were to seize the 
ship and unload her themselves. The people demanded that 
all the vessels should go back to England without unloading. 
The governor gave orders that clearance should be refused to 
the vessels, and that if they turned back witliout it, they were 
to be fired on. The twenty days were up early on December 
17th. The people were determined that the tea should not be 
landed: the governor had resolved that it should be. On 
December 16th a meeting of seven thousand people was held. 
They sent a messenger to the governor to ask for a clearance. 
When the messenger arrived with the governoi-'s refusal to 
grant the permit for the ships, the question was asked, '' How 
will tea mingle with salt water ? " which was received with the 
greatest applause, and the meeting adjourned on the ground 
that it ''could do nothing more to save the country." The 
people were determined. Their preparations had been care- 
fully made. When the meeting adjoui-ned, fifty men in the 
dress of Indians went down to the wharves, and, seizing the 
ships, broke open the chests. The stillness throughout the city 
was solemn. It was broken only by the blows of the hatchets, 
which could be distinctly heard, and before nine o'clock of that 
day the tea of the three ships went into Boston Harbor. 

The fact that the tea was not allowed to be landed was re- 
ceived in all the colonies with the ringing of the church beUs 
and with general rejoicing. In Charleston, S. C, the tea was 
throwm into a damp cellar and was spoiled. In Philadelphia 
the people forced the ship to go back to England. The colonies 
without exception rejoiced in these acts. They had solemnly 
agreed to do nothing contrary to the law, but the law did not 
provide for such an occasion. The defiance of the constituted 
authority was recognized everywhere as right, and the neces- 
sity for it was the signal for a general outcry of alarm aU over 
the continent. But it was of alarm only, on the part of most 
men ; they had not yet begun to believe that no redi-ess would 
be given by the mother-country, and that they would have to re- 
sist. As yet there was no open demonstration made ; the resist- 



ENGLISH VIEW OF THE TEA PARTY. 25 

ance was determined, however, although it was passive. Some 1773 
of the people of the country instructed their representatives 
that the act of the 16th of December, 1773 (when, with the 
sanction but without the direct order of the Committee on 
Correspondence, the tea was thrown into Boston harbor), which 
they and their descendants learned to regard as a necessaiy, 
bold, and splendid achievement of true patriots, was "un- 
necessary, higlily unwarrantable, and every way tending to 
the subversion of all good order and of the Constitution." 

Up to this time the colonists had been loyal subjects of King 
George the Third, none among them more so than John Pater- 
son. The son of a distinguished and loyal British officer, 
accustomed from his birth to associate with soldiers of high 
rank, submission to the will of his Maker and loyalty to his 
king had been the first principles of his education. When, at 
the early age at which his father's family became dependent 
on him, his study of law showed him that unless resisted, 
oppression finally became slavery, his principles of loyalty 
were brought into direct conflict with his knowledge of con- 
stitutional law, and he, with thousands of others, began to 
reflect that if he continued to be loyal he could no longer 
be a freeman. He was still living in Connecticut, where he 
had had no cause to complain, but he saw very plainly that 
what was happening in one colony might happen in any other. 
He was probably then considering the idea of removing with 
his three httle children to Massachusetts. He saw clearly 
what might befall him in Connecticut, and he foresaw the 
position he must take in Massachusetts, but, as the sequel 
showed, he had no misgivings as to the part he should take. 

In England the Boston Tea Party was regarded as the culmi- 
nation of years of riot and lawlessness. The king and the 
ministry determined to make an example of Boston for her 
defiance of their authority, and so in its shortsightedness 
Parliament passed the five acts for the better regulation of 
the American colonies : First, the " Boston Port Bill," by 
which Boston ceased to be a port of entry ; second, the altera- 
tion, or rather the annulling without previous notice, of the 



26 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1773 charter of Massachusetts Bay, making counselors, judges, and 
magistrates to be appointed by the crown and to hold office 
during the royal pleasure ; and thu-d, pro\dding that any per- 
son indicted for murder or other capital offense committed 
while aiding the magistracy might l)e sent to some other 
colony or to England for trial; fourth, making legal the 
quartering of troops in Boston; fifth, making the Roman 
Catholic religion la-v\'ful in Canada, and extending the bounds 
of this colony to the Ohio River, in spite of the claims of 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Vii-ginia to this 
territory ; this region to be governed by a despotic viceroy, 
and to have no liaheas corpus, no liberty of the press, and no 
popular meetings. Town meetings were forbidden except for 
the balloting for municipal officers and representatives to the 
General Court, and nothing but voting could be done in them. 
AU discussion was strictly forbidden. For the transaction of 
aU other business special town meetings had to be called, and 
^ could only be held on a hcense issued by the governor, and 
then only for the special purpose named in the license ; no other 
business could be transacted. Every safeguard of liberty was 
abrogated. The charter of the colony of Massachusetts Bay 
had been a matter of contention almost from the time it was 
gi-auted. The people had been kept fully aware of its value, and 
were sensitive alH)ut it, and the abolition of it was to them a 
much more serious matter than it w^ould ordinarily be. The 
charter was originally granted, as a colonial one, on March 4, 
1629, by King Charles II. No one ever knew why he granted 
it. His hatred of the Puritans is well known, and it is sur- 
mised that he gave it to facilitate their leaving the country. 
The large emigration to New England, consequent upon so 
favorable a charter, could not fail to attract attention. It was 
reported to him that the people emigrating were all " persons 
known to be ill-affected and discontented as well with the 
ci\al as ecclesiastical government." On February 21, 1634, 
this excited alarm. The vessels, fiUed with emigrants, were 
stopped, and the representatives of the company ordered by 
the Privy Council to produce and surrender the charter, 



THE COLONIAL CHARTER. 27 

but it had been sent to New England in 1630 in charge of 1773 
Governor John Winthrop, and could not be produced. The 
order was sent to Governor Winthrop, and reached him in 
July, at which time he was no longer governor. Governor 
Dudley (who had been elected a few months before) and his 
Assistants resolved to dela}^, and then began a struggle for the 
possession of the charter which lasted fifty-two years. In 
1635 the charter was declared void by default, as no one ap- 
peared in the suit against the Massachusetts Bay Company 
brought in the Court of the King's Bench. The company, 
however, paid no attention to the decree. On the 4tli of. 
April, 1638, the Board of Lords Commissioners wrote to Gov- 
ernor Winthrop demanding peremptorily the immediate sur- 
render of the charter, and ordering him to send it back on 
the return voyage of the ship which took out the order, under 
the penalty that unless the order was compHed with they 
" will move his majesty to resume into his hands the whole 
plantation." The order reached Governor Winthrop in the 
early summer of 1638, and he determined to procrastinate. 
The General Court did not meet until September. When they 
did meet they refused to send it back on the ground that if sent 
back it would be surrendered, and that they would then have 
to accept any governor sent out instead of electing their own. 
They sent a petition, which, to their surprise, was well re- 
ceived, and after that King Charles II. had other things to 
think of, and the whole matter was forgotten. In 1686 the 
colonial charter was brought to light again, and was vacated 
by the Enghsh courts, and for five years the colony was with- 
out any. In 1691 WiUiam and Mary granted the provincial 
charter, which the acts of Parliament had just repealed. They 
had lived fifty-three years under their present charter, but the 
old controversy had not been forgotten, and these acts of Parlia- 
ment revived the bitterness of the old discussion, which only 
made the present acts more unendurable. They roused the 
dissatisfaction which was everywhere felt into the most free 
and open expressions of indignation. The injustice of taxa- 
tion without representation, and of the enactments of the 



28 LIFE OF ]\IAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1774 incorporation of towns without the right of sending a rep- 
resentative to the General C'ourt, were most emphatically de- 
nounced throughout Berkshire County and in the Province 
of Massachusetts Bay generally. 

Governor Hutchinson was superseded by General Gage. 
He had said that with four regiments he could subdue the 
colonies ; and these were given him, and he was instructed not 
only to close the port of Boston, but to frighten the people 
into submission by arresting on the 1st of June all the leaders 
of the patriots, and to order the soldiers to fire on the people 
wherever and whenever he thought they were asserting them- 
selves too much. All these acts were in utter defiance of every 
principle of justice which had always been held sacred by 
Anglo-Saxons, but they were accepted by George the Third, 
as he said liimself, '' with supreme satisfaction." He was siu-e 
that the Americans were a set of cowards who would not fight, 
and would give in after a few demonstrations. His three 
years' experience of them ought to have taught him better. 
As soon as the other colonies heard that the charter of Massa- 
chusetts was annulled, they felt that the same thing might 
happen to them, and they made common cause with that 
colony. 

The news of the Boston Port Bill reached Boston on the 
10th of May, 1774, and it changed the whole face of affairs, 
for practically ail the liberties of the people were then taken 
away and placed in the hands of the governor ; and it seems 
as if abnost by inspiration the majority of the people through- 
out the province were filled with but one feeling, and that was 
resentment and determination to resist. Marblehead, which 
was selected to take the place of Boston as a port of entry, 
invited the merchants of that city to use their wharves and 
warehouses free of charge. On May 12th the Committee of 
Correspondence met in Faneuil Hall and sent a circular letter 
to aU the other colonies, asking for sympathy and co-operation. 
In the course of the summer responses were made by nearly 
every one of the colonies, asserting that Boston was suffering 
in the common cause. Supplies of all kinds were sent to that 



THE BOSTON PORT BILL. 29 

city as gifts, to euable them to euduve tlie loss of their eoni- 1774 
merce. The acts of Parliament were printed and circulated 
with deep black borders, and in many towns were publicly 
burned by the common hangman. 

The Boston Port Bill went into effect on June 1, 1774. On 
the same day Governor Hutchinson sailed in the Minerva for 
England. From that day on, the authority of the king and 
Parliament was never again recognized by the people of Mas- 
sachusetts. They held that as all governments are only pos- 
sible by and with the consent of the governed, and as then- 
charter had been illegally and without then* consent annulled, 
they had by this fact lapsed into a state of nature, and that a 
new government could now only be made by the free vote of 
the majority of the people. The royal governors held, on the 
contrary, that the people had now no rights whatever, and 
acted accordingly. June 1st was observed throughout the 
whole country as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer. 
It was ushered in by the tolling of muffled bells, the flags 
were put at half-mast, and the churches were open for solemn 
services. These services Washington, who was then at Wil- 
liamsburg, Ya., attended. The war which Parliament \Ti'tually 
declared when it annulled the charter of Massachusetts did not 
break out until the orders came to an-est Adams and Hancock. 
The attempt of the troops to seize them resulted in the bat- 
tles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 and the Declaration of 
Independence in 1776. In Massachusetts the different coun- 
ties held congresses of deputies sent from their towns to con- 
sider " the alarming state of public affairs," and resolved to 
" preserve their chartered rights against the aggi'ession of the 
acts of Parhament,"' '' for the better regulation of the govern- 
ment of Massachusetts Bay and the impartial administration 
of justice in the same." The people determined to administer 
their own government, and commenced to arm themselves in 
the face of the royal governors and in the teeth of their 
orders. Among the very fii-st of these congi'esses was the 
Berkshire Convention, to which John Paterson, who had very 
early in the j^ear 1774 moved into Massachusetts, was sent as 



30 LIFE OF RIAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1774 a delegate from Lenox. It convened at Stockbridge July 6, 
1774, and continued in session two days. The Worcester Con- 
gress met on August 9tli, but did not reach decisive action 
until the IJOtli. All the towns in the county then incorporated, 
except two, were represented. But something more was nec- 
essary than the expression of sympathy, for it was evident 
that what could be done in one colony could be done in an- 
other, and to resist it concerted action was necessary. The 
Sons of Liberty in New York immediately proposed a Conti- 
nental Congress. The proposition was at once taken up. 

The governor had convened the Massachusetts Assembly 
for the 7th of June, and it was then in session at Salem. On 
the 17th of June Samuel Adams, having previously locked 
the door to prevent interference, proposed the election of 
delegates to a Continental Congress to meet in Philadelphia 
on September 1st, which was done. Before the proceedings 
were finished the governor heard of it, and sent his secretary 
with a writ dissolving the assembly ; but the door was locked 
and no one would open it, so he had to content himself with 
reading the wi-it to the crowd outside. In the meantime the 
assembly went on with their work. They appointed delegates 
to the Congress, they assessed the towns for the necessary ex- 
' penses, and adjourned sine die before the governor could dis- 
solve them. All the other colonies except Georgia sent dele- 
gates to this Continental Congress, and she promised to do 
what was determined by it. Before the Congress met Mas- 
sachusetts had set the annulling of the charter and the power 
of the king at defiance; for when, on the 16th of August, 
the court was to meet at Great Barrington, 1500 unarmed 
men assembled at the court-house, and so completely filled 
and sun'ounded it that when the judges arrived to hold 
com't they could not enter the building, and the people both 
inside and out refused to make way for them. Two of the 
king's mandamus councilors declined to act, and the others 
were forced to resign. The example set in Berkshire County 
was followed throughout the pro\dnce, and was everywhere 
successful. The king's court could not sit anywhere in the 



THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 31 

province except where it was under the immediate protection 1774 
of the royal troops. As these places became fewer and fewer 
it happened at last that they were finally all suppressed, so 
that the courts closed in 1774 by crowding the judges out of 
their places, were not again opened until they were recon- 
structed under the constitution of the State in 1780. The 
people assembled in town meetings in the presence of both the 
soldiers and the governor, and when he threatened them they 
commenced to collect ammunition. On a false rumor that the 
soldiers had fired on the people, 20,000 men, in less than forty- 
eight hours, marched toward Boston, and went quietly back to 
their homes when the rumor proved to be unfounded. The 
Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia, September 5, 
1774. They prepared an address to the jieoj^le of Great Brit- 
ain and all of the colonies, drew up a declaration of rights, 
asserting that the colonies could only be taxed by themselves, 
approved what had been done by the county conventions, ap- 
pointed May 11, 1775, for a second Congress, in which Canada 
and Florida were invited to join, and adjourned on October 
26th. On February 1st Lord Chatham introduced a resolu- 
tion into Parliament which would have avoided the war, re- 
pealing the oppressive measures, and renouncing the right of 
taxation ; but it was voted down by large majorities in both 
Houses, and the war then became inevitable. 

Innnediately after the news of the Boston Port Bill the 
Assembly of Virginia, which had been dissolved by the gov- 
ernor but was stiU sitting, ordered the Committee on Corre- 
spondence to communicate with the other colonies of British 
America with regard to the expediency of appointing deputies 
from the several colonies to meet annually in a general con- 
gress, to deliberate on such measures as the united interests 
of the colonies might requu-e. The Boston Gazette of Jime 
20th says : " The aspect of affairs is highly favorable, . . . 
the whole continent seeming inspired by one soul, and that a 
vigorous and determined one." This unanimity was o^\dng to 
the constant interchange of thought and opinion made pos- 
sible by the proceedings of the conventions and congi-esses. 



32 LIFE OF 3IAJ0R-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1774 County conventions were held in the Province of Massachu- 
setts Bay in tlie year 1774, especially the notable one at 
Stockbridge in the county of Berkshire on the 6th of July 
of that year. It was composed of " sixty gentlemen deputies," 
who, feeling deeply the forbidding of the manufacture of raw 
materials found so abundantly in the province, adopted the 
" Solemn League and Covenant." It had already been adopted 
in Boston. It was also signed by a large majority of the 
people of all the towns and counties in the province and 
some of the other colonies, and was rigorously adhered to. 
It had for its object to prevent the use by the colonists of ar- 
ticles imported from Great Britain. To the Berkshire Conven- 
tion John Paterson was sent as a delegate from Lenox. He 
not only signed the " Solemn League and Covenant " himself, 
but was one of the most active in procuring signatures to it. 
On the 14th of July, 1774, the resolutions adopted by the 
Berkshu'c Convention were signed by one hundred and ten 
citizens of Lenox at the instigation of their deputies. These 
resolutions and the '' Solemn League and Covenant " were the 
basis of the principles upon which the Revolution was made, 
and they became in a few weeks as familiar to aU the people 
as household words. 

The text of the " Solemn League and Covenant " is given below 
in fidl. 

SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT. 

"Whereas the Parliament of Great Britain have of late undertaken to 
give and gi-ant away our money without our knowledge and consent ; and 
in order to compel us to a servile submission to the above measures have 
proceeded to block up the harbor of Boston ; also have vacated, or are 
about to vacate, the charter, and repeal certain laws of this province here- 
tofore enacted by the General Court, and confirmed by the king and his 
predecessors ; therefore, as a means to obtain a speedy redress of the 
aforesaid grievances, we do, solemnly and in good faith, covenant and 
engage with each other : 

L That we will not import, piu'chase, or consume, or suffer any person 
by, or for, us to import, purchase, or consume in any manner whatever, 
any goods, wares, or merchandise which shall arrive in America from 
Great Britain from and after the first day of October, 1774, or such other 
time as shall be agreed upon by the American Congress, nor any goods 



THE " SOLEJIN LEAGUE AND COVENANT." 33 

which shall be ordered from thence, after this day, until our chartered 1774 
and constitutional rights shall be restored, or until it shall be determined 
by the major part of our brethren in this and the neighboring colonies 
that a non-importation and non-consumption agreement will not have a 
tendency to effect the desired end, or until it shall be apparent that a non- 
importation and non-consumption agreement will not be entered into by 
a majority of this and the neighboring colonies ; except such articles as 
the said General Congress of North America shall agree to import, pur- 
chase, or consume. 

li. We do further convenant and agi-ee, that we will observe the most 
strict obedience to all constitutional laws and authority, and will at all 
times exert ourselves to the utmost for the discouragement of all licen- 
tiousness and suppression of all mobs and riots. 

III. We will all exert ourselves, as far as in us lies, in promoting love, 
peace, and unanimity among each other ; and for that end we engage to 
avoid all unnecessary lawsuits. 

IV. As a strict and proper adherence to the present agreement will, if 
not seasonably provided against, involve us in many difficulties and incon- 
veniences ; we do promise and agree that we will take the most prudent 
care for the raising and preserving sheep for the manufacturing of all such 
cloths as shall be most useful and necessary ; for the raising of flax and 
manufacturing of linens. Further, that we will, by every prudent method, 
endeavor to guard against all those inconveniences which may otherwise 
arise from the foregoing agreement. 

V. That, if any person shall refuse to sign this or a similar convenant, 
or if, after signing it, shall not adhere to the real intent and meaning 
thereof, he or they shall be treated with that neglect justly deserved. 

VI. That if this or a similar convenant shall after the first day of August 
next be offered to any trader or shopkeeper in this county, and he or they 
shall refuse to sign the same, for the space of forty-eight hours, that we 
will not, from thenceforth, purchase any article of British manufactures, 
from him or them, until such time as he or they shall sign this or a similar 
covenant. 



This covenant was the resnlt of a wonderfnl uprising of 
popular spirit in an age when the ordinary acts of the Eng- 
lish government were generally quietly acquiesced in, but were 
such as are now considered not only despotic but arbitrary. 
The county of Berkshire, which up to 1761 had been a part of 
Hampshire County, of which Sheffield was one of the largest 
towns, was filled by just such a spirit. The to"v^^l of Lenox 
was incorporated in 1767, and its inhabitants were thoroughly 



34 LIFE OF aiAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1774 loyal subjects to George III. (as is slioA\ai by the resolution 
passed by the Stockbridge Convention of July 6, 1774) until 
they were forced by his arbitrary acts to declare, as they did 
on December 25, 1775, " that there shall be no more warrants 
given out in his majesty's name to warn town meetings." 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESSES AND THE BATTLE OP 
BUNKER HILL. 

On the 1st of September, 1774, Thomas Gage, the royal 1774 
governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, issued his precept to 
each of the towns of the colony, commanding them to send 
their representatives to the GTeneral Coui't to be convened at 
Salem on the 5th of October, 1774. On the 5th he began 
to fortify Boston Neck, so as to close the approach to the city 
by land. On the 6th, 5000 armed men at Worcester prevented 
the unconstitutionally appointed judges from taking then* 
seats for the county assizes. The same day the Suffolk County 
Convention declared "that the king who violates the char- 
tered rights of the people forfeits their allegiance," and ordered 
all the officers appointed under the regulating act to resign at 
once. They ordered the collectors of taxes to decline to pay 
them over to the governor's treasiu-er. They advised the 
towns to choose militia officers, and sent word to the governor 
tliat if he arrested any one for political offenses they would 
seize the officers of the king and hold them as hostages. On 
the receipt of these resolutions a provisional government was 
formed. The same day the Continental Congress assembled 
in Philadelphia and approved the Suffolk resolutions and de- 
manded the repeal of the acts of Parliament. On the 28th of 
September, fearful of the effect of these demonstrations, Gov- 
ernor Gage, incensed by the instrvictions given by many of the 
towTis to their representatives elected for the General Com-t, 
revoked his precept, notifying the members not to come, 
on account of "the disordered and unhappy state of the 

35 



36 LIFE OP MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1774 province, the extraordinary resolves which had been passed 
in many of the counties, and the instructions given by the 
town of Boston and some other to^ois to their representa- 
tives." The ''pestilent leaders," as he called the representa- 
tives of some of the towns, were ordered to remain at home ; 
but he neglected to recognize that these leaders were not 
moving of themselves, but by the authority and at the wish 
of the people, and that these people, whose power he did 
not recognize and whose authority he despised, were the 
ones who were the real governors. This revocation, together 
vnth the indignation against other acts of the crown and Par- 
liament, which was already boihug up in the minds of the 
people, intensified the bitter feeUng existing between the col- 
onies and the mother-country. Up to that time loyalty to 
the cro-wai had been a matter of religion with most of the col- 
onists. It was only a few disaffected ones, who, according to 
the governor, " were not m the majority, who were fomenting 
sedition," but this arbitrary act caused a great addition to 
these ranks and brought the disaffected into the majority. 
AD the towns had elected theu' representatives to the General 
Com-t, and these representatives were the best and ablest men 
in the province. The towns unanimously decided that their 
representatives should pay no attention to the counter-proc- 
lamation, and should proceed to Salem notwithstanding the 
revocation of the governor's precept. 

To this congi'ess John Paterson was sent as the representa- 
tive of the town of Lenox, and he was one of the most active 
and influential men in it. The members were fully aware of the 
responsibiUty they had assumed, and were equal to the emer- 
gency ; but in order that they should take no step without the 
authority of their constituents, they kept adjourning and re- 
turning to their own homes to consult the people from whom 
they had received their authority. The instructions given to 
John Paterson by the town of Lenox were, that if the gover- 
nor, whose presence in the General Court was necessary to its 
legal organization, presented himself, to proceed to find, if 
possible, a " remedy for the disordered and unhappy state of 



THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. 37 

the province/' but that if he should refuse to appear, then 1774 
the representatives should proceed to their dehberations with- 
out him and find it for themselves. All the towns gave 
similar instructions to their representatives. Ninety of the 
delegates assembled Wednesday, October 5th, the day as- 
signed in the precept. They waited one day for the governor, 
but he refused to meet and organize them. They organized 
themselves on Thursday, and on Friday they adopted the fol- 
lowing resolution, which they sent to the governor : 

Bcsolved : That some of the causes assigned for this unconstitutional 
and wanton prevention of the General Court have in all good govern- 
ments been considered among the greatest reasons for convening a par- 
liament or assembly ; and therefore the proclamation is considered as a 
further proof, not only of His Excellency's disaffection toward the prov- 
ince, but of the necessity of its most vigorous and immediate exertions 
for preserving the freedom and constitution thereof. 

They then declared themselves to be a Provincial Congress, 
and pubhshed their proceedings, which was theii* method of 
informing the people of their action ; but in order that there 
should be no mistake as to their intentions, they sent to the 
governor notice of wliat had been done by a committee of 
twenty-one of their number. On the 17th G-overnor Gage 
repUed that by assembhng without his authority they were 
subverting their charter and acting in direct violation of 
their own constitution. This is one of the few cases in which 
he was right, for by doing what they had done none knew 
better than themselves that they had committed high treason 
and had forfeited their lives and property to the crown of 
Great Britain. Their action was fully sustained by the peo- 
ple. The time had come when submission meant subjection, 
and when obedience to law, when their rulers acted in defiance 
of justice, was the complete surrender of their liberties. " As 
we are in a remote wilderness of the earth, we know but 
little," said the farmers of Lenox, " but neither nature nor 
the God of nature requires us to crouch, Issacher-like, between 
the two biu-dens of poverty and slavery." * 

* Bancroft's "History of the United States," vol. iii., p. 249. 



38 LIFE OF IMAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1774 This act of rebellion in Massachusetts broke up all forms 
of law, for the king's courts could not be held among those 
who had defied his authority. The courts of justice were not 
re-established until the adoption of the State Constitution in 
1780. By common agreement the people settled their differ- 
ences, acts of violence were uncommon, and what differences 
could not be settled between parties were settled by authorities 
named and constituted by common consent. 

During all the time that the Continental and Provincial 
Congi-esses were in session county conventions were being 
constantly held, and it was these conventions which had 
brought the sentiment up to such a point that without hesita- 
tion they converted the Great and General Court, which had 
been put under the ban of the governor, into the Provincial 
Congress which made the Revolution possible. In the mean- 
time. Earl Chatham had tried to get the offensive acts repealed 
and to renounce the right to tax the colonies, but Parliament 
refused ; all the ports of New England were closed, the army 
about Boston was increased to 10,000 men, and Governor 
Gage, who had promised to subdue the colonies with four regi- 
ments, was superseded by Howe. 

It must not be supposed that the feeling which made the 
American Revolution was unanimous. Debates were bitter 
and party spirit was high ; families were divided then, as 
they were during the late Civil War ; but the movement for 
the Revolution was the act of an overwhelming majority, and 
many avIio were opposed at the outset became enthusiastic 
advocates after the majority had decided that the separation 
from the mother-country must be made. The people had 
been accustomed to live on the defensive and to be . in con- 
stant fear that the arrival of each ship from Great Britain 
would bring fresh curtailment of their liberties. - Loyalty had 
been part of their religion, and was still so ; but when they 
began to ask themselves how far loyalty to the king should 
carry submission to the unjust enactment of his ministers and 
Parliament, they had already admitted the x>i'inciple of the 
Revolution, and from that to the repudiation of the oath 



THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. 39 

taken, not only to defend the king, bnt "to disclose any 1774 
plot of treason against his majesty or his successors, withojit 
mental reservation," was but a step. 

The first seed of the Revolution was thus sown by the rep- 
resentatives of the people of Massachusetts Bay, who, in de- 
fiance of the proclamation of Governor Gage, were instructed 
by their towns to go to Salem, according to the royal precept 
issued September 1st, and to pay no attention whatever to the 
counter-proclamation. Few of us can appreciate what it cost 
the people to instruct those delegates to the General Court to 
resolve themselves into a congress, and yet it was this resolve 
which made it possible for the United States of America to 
become what they are. 

To fully appreciate these events, they must not be taken 
as isolated facts, but must be considered in connection with 
the county conventions and the provincial congresses which 
made the acts of the Continental Congress by which the Dec- 
laration of Independence was finally made possible. The 
connection between the Continental Congress, the provincial 
congi-esses, and the county conventions was very close, so that 
the acts of each bod}^ were immediately felt throughout the 
whole of the country. In the year 1774, when everything 
was ready for the war which followed so soon afterward, 
they prepared the way for the ready acceptance by the people 
of the conversion of the General Court called by Governor 
Gage into the Provincial Congress which made the Revolu- 
tion. There were only about three millions of people in the 
country at that time, but these representative assemblies, for 
such they were, were of such a character that in a very brief 
period the opinions of the people were not only formed, but 
transmitted to the governing bodies in such a way that there 
was no mistaking what public opinion was. The town-meeting 
was the safety-valve of public thought ; the higher and more 
dignified assemblies digested, formulated, and expressed it. 
The habit of debate which every public act required led men 
to form theii* o^\ti opinions. They were, it is true, more or 
less influenced by the j^ublic orators, but what the town, 



40 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1774 country, single province or the united provinces thought was 
e:^pressed by these assemblies. There were differences of opin- 
ion, but these were settled by votes in the open meeting, and 
not by newspaper editors for partisan purposes. The result 
was that in the thirteen States, when the time for self-assertion 
and independence came, ''the group of statesmen that pro- 
ceeded from them were a match for any in the whole history 
of the world and were superior to those of any other epoch." * 
On December 26, 1774, the town of Lenox voted "that 
the Collector of the Pro^-ince Tax shall pay Colonel John 
Paterson out of the s^l tax money for his Representing us at 
the Great and General Court at their last May Session Ten 
Pounds Ten Shillings lawful money." They also voted to pay 
"two pounds eight shillings to Colonel John Paterson for 
journeying to Boston to do business with the Committee of 
Correspondence." He had gone to the coast under a false 
alarm of war. At the same meeting he with two others was 
chosen a committee to gather grain to provide the town with 
a stock of ammunition, to consist of one hundred pounds of 
powder, four hundred pounds of lead, and six himdred flints. 
Such action as this called for military organization. The 
people had been more or less habituated to the necessities of 
defense from their isolated position, but this defense had 
been against the barbarous warfare of the Indians. Now it 
was a defense of their rights against trained soldiers. Every 
colony had its militia organizations. Almost aU the towns 
had had then- trained bands. They had originated in the 
very early history of the settlements from the spontaneous 
feeling of the necessity of some kind of systematic protection. 
They were looked upon by the royal authorities as a useful 
means of local defense, and were regarded as an organization 
which might l)e useful to the governors in case they should 
be required to put down " the pestilent fellows who were fo- 
menting disturbances." The great increase in theii- number 
during the year 1774 had either not attracted the notice of 

* From Mr. Gladstone's speeches. 



THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. 41 

the authorities, or was taken as the result of a martial spirit 1774 
which was natural. The general arming- of the people had 
been so noiseless that it had excited no apprehension on the 
part of the royal authorities ; it had been looked on as part of 
the necessary consequences of the isolated condition of the 
towns. It does not appear that it was ever regarded by 
them even with suspicion. Now the colonists found the train 
bands useful as a means of organization ; and, inspired by 
their leaders, they commenced the formation of uniformed 
mihtia companies, with fixed terms of service, in all the 
towns, and in this move Lenox was not backward. In this 
spirit, in the congress on October 25, 1774, John Paterson had 
been. ordered to inquire into "the state of all the stores in 
the commissary general's department," and he knew the re- 
sources of the province perfectly. On the 27th the congress 
appointed a committee of safety whose duty was to collect 
military stores. The towais, tlii'ough their delegates, had done 
their work fearlessly and thoroughly. They had carried the 
people with them in every step, and now they came forward 
and voted money freely to arm, equip, and discipline those 
citizens who had entered " the alarm list companies," as they 
were called. To be a private in one of these companies was 
an honor ; to be an officer was the highest distinction the to^sv^i 
could confer. By this time John Paterson was most thor- 
oughly satisfied that it was useless to try to con^dnce the 
governor that he had acted unjustly, and hopeless to ob- 
tain any redress ft'om the British crown, and that war was 
inevitable. He had, before the second congress was called 
and during its sessions, raised and organized a regiment, 
and while he was at home was most active in equipping it 
and di-ilhng it for field ser\'ice, which he told every man 
when he euHsted that he might be called on at any mo- 
ment to render. Every one when he enlisted pledged himself 
to be ready to march at a moment's notice of a hostile move- 
ment of the king's troops. The privates elected the conqDany 
officers, and they the field officers. It was a foregone conclu- 
sion that John Paterson, who was a born leader of men, should 



42 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATER SON. 

177-i be elected the colonel. His early association with military life, 
and his knowledge ctf it gained while his father was in ser- 
vice at home, so well adapted liim for leadership that he was 
the undispnted authority and the acknowledged leader. The 
reg-iment was raised for the defense of the colony. Lenox 
had pre\-i(rasly made provision for the securing of arms and 
ammunition for it. In a very short time a sufficient number 
of persons, uniformed and equipped, had joined the regiment 
to entitle it to be organized as such. John Paterson, who 
had been chosen as its colonel, was commissioned by the 
Colonial Committee of Safety. The regiment was composed 
principally of companies from the middle and northern towns 
of the county. Five companies were from the county of 
Berkshire, four from other parts of Massachusetts, and one 
from the State of New York. With a great deal of labor it 
had been well drilled and brought to a fine state of discipline. 
It was fully equipped and in thorough condition for active 
service and was all ready when the news of the battle of Lex- 
ington and the bloody encounter at the bridge at Concord 
was brought to Lenox. The regiment was assembled at once, 
and within eighteen hours after the receipt of the news was 
on the march to Caml^ridge and was the first on the grcumd 
after the news of the battle. 

The First Pro^^ncial Congress was dissolved December 10, 
1774, the reason for which was the danger wliich the delegates 
foresaw of continuing to exercise so great powers as became 
necessary from the imexpected situation without a new elec- 
tion, and they recommended the towns and districts to elect 
members to the new congress, giving the very good reason 
that in times of so gi-eat emergency, when new pi'inciijles 
were to be asserted and cii'cumstances so extraordinary were 
constantly arising, the ^dews of the people should be repre- 
sented in a new congi'ess, not by men who had been elected 
under different emergencies, but by those who knew the cir- 
cumstances of the day. John Paterson immediately returned 
to Lenox, thoroughly convinced himself that war was ine-vita- 
ble, and he ad\ised immediate preparation for it. This ad- 



THE SECOND PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. 43 

vice was followed, and sixteen days afterward, on December 1774-1775 
2Gtli, tlie town appointed a committee of eleven to collect grain 
for purposes of defense, and voted the sum of twenty pounds 
to procure and pay for a stock of ammunition. This was 
done on the advice of Mr. Paterson, who assured the people 
of the town that war, if not inevitable, was most likely, and 
that, if it should come, any unnecessary delay in preparing for 
it now would be fatal, and that without the most active re- 
sistance to the aggressions of the British crown it would be 
impossilile to live honorably under that tyranny. 

On January 30, 1775, John Paterson was elected delegate 
to the Second Provincial Congress, called to assemble at Cam- 
bridge on the 1st day of February following. This body or- 
ganized as a Provincial Congress. Governor Gage refused all 
recognition of it, while it, on its part, like the Fu-st Congress, 
acknowledged no authority but that of the people. On Feb- 
ruary 9th John Paterson was made chairman of a committee to 
report the names of those who had been appointed king's coun- 
cilors by mandamus and had refused to resign theii* appoint- 
ments. They reported the names of fifteen men whom they 
declared to be " the implacalile enemies of their country," and 
the secretary was ordered to send their names to all the news- 
papers, that they " might, if possible, be sent down to posterity 
with the infamy they deserve." On Fel^i-uary 10th he was 
appointed on a committee ''to revise the commission of the 
Committee of Safety and also of the Committee of SuppUes, and 
to point out what amendments, if any, are necessary." On Feb- 
ruary 13th he was appointed a committee " to bring in a reso- 
lution for inquiry into the state of the militia, their number and 
equipment, and recommending to the selectmen of the several 
towns and districts in the province to make return of theu* 
town and district stock of ammunition and warlike stores to 
this Congress." On the 14th of February he was instructed to 
bring in a resolution to appoint an agent to go to the prov- 
ince of Quebec and collect the sentiments of the people there 
relating to the matters which disturbed the harmony existing 
between the mother-countrv and her colonies. John Brown 



44 LIFE OF i\IAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1775 was made this agent, and the news which he brought back re- 
sulted in the disastrous Canada campaign, which was under- 
taken under the impression that Canada, like the other col- 
onies, was dissatisfied and was both likely and willing to join 
the other provinces in the defense of their rights. The same 
day he was made chairman of a committee " to bring in a 
resolve, du-ecting and empowering the Committee of Corre- 
spondence for the town of Boston to establish an intimate 
correspondence with the inhal^itants of Quebec." On Febru- 
ary 16th he was appointed to bring in a resolution relative 
to adjournment, and empowering the members from Charles- 
town to call the Congress together at an earlier day than that 
to which it may be adjom-ned. At a town meeting held in 
Lenox on the 21st of March, 1775, during one of the recesses 
of the congress Colonel John Paterson was chosen moderator 
of the meeting. He was elected selectman and assessor, col- 
lector of the school tax, and was sworn in to these ofiices. 
It was thought l)y the congress to be of the greatest im- 
portance to secure the interest and the services of the 
Stockbridge Indians in the cause of the colonies, and on 
April 1, 1775, he was appointed to present an address to the 
Stockbridge Indians for the encouragement of those of the 
tribe who had enlisted as minute-men. It was voted to appro- 
priate twenty-three pounds for the purchase of blankets and 
ribbons for each of them, and that Colonel John Paterson 
and Captain William Goodridge should purchase blankets 
and ribbons and present an address to the Indians, and that 
each Indian enlisted shoidd be given one blanket and one 
yard of ribbon. The address, which was probably written by 
Paterson, in whose ability to draft resolutions and addresses 
his fellow-congressmen seem to have had gi-eat confidence, is 
given in f uU : 

" To Johoiakin Mothksin and the rest of our hrethren, the Indians, natives 
of Stockhrid(/e : 

"Good Brothers: It affords us great pleasure and satisfaction to 
hear, by Colonel Paterson and Captain Goodridge, that our brothers, the 
natives of Stockbridge, are ready and willing to take up the hatchet in 



THE SECOND PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. 45 

the cause of liberty and their country. We find you have not been inat- 1775 
tentive to the unhappy controversy we are engaged in with our mother- 
country, by reason of sundry acts the British Parliament have passed, 
by which our rights and privileges have been invaded and our property 
taken from us without our consent. We have frequently petitioned the 
king for redress for our grievances and the restoration of our riglits ; 
but instead of granting us relief the king's ministers have sent a large 
fleet and posted a great many in the town of Boston, who are daily abus- 
ing and insulting the inliabitants in order to enforce obedience to these 
acts. The whole continent, from Nova Scotia to Georgia, by their dele- 
gates have lately presented a petition to the king praying for relief, to 
which we hope we shall receive a gracious answer. We wish the fire of 
friendship may be again kindled between both countries ; but in case 
our petition should not be attended to and the ministry should determine 
to deprive us of our rights and property by a military force, we hold 
ourselves obliged to defend them at the point of the sword. This is a 
common cause — a cause you are equally engaged in with ourselves ; we 
are all brothers, and if the Parliament of Great Britain takes from us 
om" property and our lands without our consent, they will do the same by 
you ; your property, your lands will be insecure — in short, we shall not 
any of us have anything we can call our own. Your engaging in this 
cause discovers not only your attachment to your liberties, but furnishes 
us with an evidence of your gratitude to this province for their past 
favors. They have fi'equently at your request made laws and regula- 
tions for your protection and defense against the ravages and frauds of 
designing men. They have constantly and cheerfully afforded you aid 
and assistance, because you have given them abundant proof of your 
fidelity. We have directed Colonel Paterson and Captain Goodridge to 
present each of you that have enlisted in the service with a blanket and 
a ribbon as a testimony of our affection, and shall depend upon your firm 
and steady attachment to the cause you have engaged in." 

In a short time the Stockbridge Indians enlisted a full 
company composed of all the fighting men of the tribe, and 
they did most faithful service during the war. The cliief of 
one of the tribes which accepted the address and enlisted the 
men replied, however, " I am not used to fight English fash- 
ion, and yon must not expect me to train like your men ; only 
point out to me where your enemies keep, and that is all I 
shall want to know." 

In July eighteen of the Indian soldiers petitioned Congress 
to take care of their money, as they were afraid of getting 



46 LIFE OF BIAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1775 too mueli strong drink. They asked that theii- money be 
paid to two citizens of St()ckl)ridge, who should deal it out 
to them as they had need, and the petition was granted on 
July 5th. 

The same day that the address to the Stockbridge Indians 
was adopted John Paterson, with Thomas Gushing and Sam- 
uel Adams of Boston, was ordered to draft a similar letter to 
the Rev. Mr. Kirkland, and an address to the Mohawk In- 
dians. The addi-ess is given below, and states the whole case 
fuUy: 

"Concord, April 4, 1775. 

"Reverend Sir: The Provincial Congi-ess have thought it necessary 
to address the sachem of the Mohawk tribe, with the rest of the Five 
Nations, upon the subject of the controversy between Great Britain and 
the American colonies. We were induced to take this measure, as we 
have been informed that those who are inimical to us in Canada have 
been tampering with those nations, and endeavoring to attach them to 
the interest of those who are attempting to deprive us of our inestimable 
rights and privileges, and to subjugate the colonies to arbitrary power. 
From a confidence in your attachment to the cause of liberty and your 
country, we now transmit to you the inclosed address, and desire you 
would deliver it to the sachem of the Mohawk tribe to be communicated 
to the rest of the Five Nations, and that you would use your influence 
with them to join with us in the defense of our rights ; but if you can- 
not prevail with them to take an active part in this glorious cause, that 
you would, at least, engage them to stand neuter, and not by any means 
to aid and assist oar enemies; and as we are at a loss for the name of 
the sachem of the Mohawk tribe, we have left it to you to direct the 
adtli'ess to him, in such way as you may think proper. 

" 'Brothers: "We, the delegates of the inhabitants of the province of 
the Massachusetts Bay, being come together to consider what may be 
best for you and ourselves to do, in order to get ourselves rid of those 
hardships which we feel and fear, have thought it our duty to tell you, 
our good brothers, what our fathers in G-reat Britain have done and 
threaten to do with us. 

"'Brotliers: You have heard how our fathers were obliged, by the 
cruelty of their brethren, to leave their coimtry ; how they crossed the 
great lake and came here ; how they purchased this land with their own 
money, and how, since that time, they and we, their sons and grandsons, 
have built our houses, and cut down the trees, and cleared and improved 
the land at their and our own expense ; how we have fought for them, 



THE SECOND PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. 47 

and conquered Canada and a great many other places which they have had 1775 
and have not paid us for. After all which and many other troubles, we 
thought we had reason to hope that they would be kind to us, and allow 
us to enjoy ourselves, and sit in our own houses and eat our own victuals 
in peace and quiet ; but alas, our brothers, we are greatly distressed, and 
we will tell you our grief, for you, as well as we, are in great danger. 

" 'Brothers : Our fathers in Great Britain tell us our lands and houses 
and cattle and money are not our own ; that we, ourselves, are not our 
own men, but their servants ; they have endeavored to take away our 
money without our leave, and have sent their great vessels and a gi'eat 
many warriors for that purpose. 

" ' Brothers : We used to send our vessels on the great lake, whereby 
we were able to get clothes and what we needed for ourselves and you ; 
but such has lately been their conduct that we cannot ; they have told us 
we shall have no more guns, no powder to use and kill our wolves and 
other game, nor to send to you, for you to kill your victuals with, and 
to get skins to trade with us, to buy you blankets and what you want. 
How can you live without powder and guns? But we hope to supply you 
soon with both of oiir own making. 

"'Brothers: They have made a law to establish the religion of the 
pope in Canada, which lies so near you. We much fear some of your 
children may be induced, instead of worshiping the only true God, to 
pay His due to images made with their own hands. 

" ' Brothers : These and many other hardships we are threatened 
with, which, no doubt, in the end, will equally affect you; for the 
same reason they would get our lands, they will take away yours. All 
we want is, that we and you may enjoy that liberty and secin-ity which 
we have a right to enjoy, and that we may not lose that good land which 
enables us to feed our wives and children. We think it our duty to in- 
form you of our danger, and desire you to give notice to all your kin- 
dred ; and as we much fear they will attempt to cut our throats, and if 
you should allow them to do that, there will nobody remain to keep them 
from you, we therefore earnestly desire you to whet your hatchet and 
be prepared with us to defend our liberties and lives. 

" 'Brothers: We humbly beseech that God, who lives and does what 
is right here below, to enlighten your minds to see that you ought to 
prevent our fathers from bringing those miseries upon us, and to His 
good providence we commend you.'" * 

On the 4th of April, Congress having given Captain Good- 
ridge permission to augment his company to one hundred 
men to act as rangers, he was directed to apply to Colonel 

* " Journal of the First Provincial Congress," p. 118. 



48 LIFE OF :\IAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1775 Paterson, who would have an opportunity to consult the field- 
officers of the militia regiments from which the men were to be 
enlisted, and act as they might think best. On April 24th he 
was made the member from Berkshh-e County to attend the 
meetings of the Committee of Safety and Supplies and ad\dse 
them " who from among the minute-men are most suitable for 
officers in the army now raising." He was so successful in en- 
listing men that on May 1st it was ordered that he *'be sup- 
plied with ten sets of enlisting orders." How thoroughly he 
commanded the confidence of the people in military matters is 
sho\^^l liy the fact that he was appointed by the Congress 
on almost every committee relating to military affairs. On 
March 21, 1775, the town of Lenox voted ''to abide by the 
doings of the Pro\dneial Congi-ess." On April 14, 1775, they 
voted to procure forty muskets, " with bayonets and cartouch 
boxes." On April 12th he was appointed on a committee to 
look into matters relating to, and to attend to applications 
from, the plantation of New Providence. On May 3d he was 
appointed to give to Ebenezer Bradish a certificate of unjust 
accusation. On May 8th Colonel Paterson was made a mem- 
ber of a committee to see that aU the members of the Con- 
gress were in their seats at 3 p.m. the next day, to determine 
"whether it was expedient to assume the government." This 
discussion was postponed until the 12th, when it became evi- 
dent that there was no hope of redress, and it was decided to 
act. They assumed the government, and aU the responsi- 
bilities which such revolutionary action entailed. The Con- 
gress continued in session until the 29th of May, adjourn- 
ing from time to time in order that the new state of affairs 
might be explained to the people and their wishes ascertained. 
In these two Congresses he was one of the ablest and clearest 
of those who demanded freedom from the tp'anny of the colo- 
nial representatives of the mother-country and from the mother- 
country itself. In the interval between the sessions Colonel 
Paterson visited aU parts of the district that he represented, 
explaining the critical relations, making known the resolutions 
and debates of the members of the First and Second Con- 



THE SECOND PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. 49 

gresses, showing the wrongs inflicted upon the colony, and the i^^5 
necessity of maintaining their honor and manhood by prepar- 
ing at once for the impending struggle. His clear statement 
of the legal side of the question, his patriotic appeals to their 
manhood, and his unflinching determination for himself not 
to yield, had probably as great, if not greater, influence than 
the representations of most of the other delegates. 

His ancestors had fled from Scotland to escape the tyranny 
of James H. He had learned in his boyhood from them that 
despotism, when quietly submitted to, meant slavery, and by 
the gradual encroachment on the charter which had been made, 
until he saw that instrument, in the last official acts, disappear 
altogether, he knew that there was no hope for the American 
colonists to remain freemen except by the assertion and defense 
of their rights. Since his graduation, as a loyal subject of the 
king he had urged obedience to the laws as enacted, while en- 
deavoring when they seemed oppressive to get them changed or 
repealed. Now he saw that remonstrance was useless, and he 
freely and openly advised armed resistance as the only price at 
which it was possible for the provinces to retain their freedom. 
He believed what he said, and his earnest representations con- 
vinced people that he was right. His knowledge of law and 
of military matters, his ability as a leader, and the zeal and 
firmness that he had shown in resisting the oppressions of 
the British crown, made him one of the ablest and most prom- 
inent men in both Congresses. He not only kept the people 
of the town fully informed of all the proceedings of the Con- 
gi'esses, but kept them up to doing their part when action 
was necessary. The people required but very little urging. 
They were no longer actuated by the spirit of loyalty which 
passed the resolutions of July 6, 1774. Every town took care 
to be represented in all the congresses and conventions, and 
each individual townsman took pains to be himself thorouglily 
acquainted with the facts. 

The winter had passed quietly. In their town meetings 
every man, woman, and child had had the lesson impressed 
upon them that, in order to secure the full sympathy of the 



50 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1775 other colonies, the government must fii'e the first shot. Tht' 
acts of Parhament had been defied. No one could be found 
to serve under the royal commission. There was practically 
no government. The men drilled every evening in the vil- 
lages, and quietly collected then- mihtary stores. In Boston 
the hardship was great, but no provocation was sufficient to 
make the people do more than assert and re-assert theii" 
rights. 

On March 5th a town meeting was held in Boston at the 
old South Church, which was full to repletion, and at which 
Joseph Warren made a most eloquent address " on the baleful 
influences of standing armies in time of peace," at which 
Hancock and Adams, who had both been proscribed, were 
present. This gave the governor a pretext for action. The 
Second Provincial Congress had adjourned from April 15th 
to May 10th, but on the 17th of April the committee from 
Charlestown and the neighboring towns, who had been au- 
thorized to recall the members if necessary, sent summons to 
all the delegates to return at once, as Greneral Grage had re- 
ceived reinforcements and was making preparations to send 
British troops into the interior. The government had deter- 
mined to arrest Adams and Hancock as traitors and have 
them sent to England for trial ; but Governor Gage tried first 
to corrupt them, which he found impossible. He then re- 
ceived peremptory orders to arrest them. After the adjourn- 
ment of the Congress they both went to Lexington for a few 
days. The governor thought that it would be easier to arrest 
them there than in Boston or Watertown, and troops were 
sent there secretly for that purpose, and also to destroy the 
military stores which were collected at Concord. But the 
news leaked out, and the result was that the troops which 
started on the night of April 18th met with a warm recep- 
tion the next morning, and the battles of Lexington and Con- 
cord took place. The expedition was a fail are. The whole 
force narrowly escaped capture. The people had shown 
that they could fight, and that they had excellent ideas 
of military organization and were expert marksmen; and, 



THE BATTLE OF LEXIXC4T0N. 51 

moreover, Great Britain had fired the first shot, so that at 1775 
the end of the week Gage found himself besieged in Boston 
by sixteen thousand men. The afi^airs of the provinces had 
now assumed the gravest turn in their history. The notice for 
the reassembhng of the Congress was sent by express mes- 
sengere, and possibly had reached Lenox previous to the neAvs 
of the battle of Lexington, which occurred on the 19th. Tliis 
may account for the almost incredible promptness with which 
Colonel Paterson and his regiment arrived in Boston. Send- 
ing notice to all his soldiers to be in readiness to march 
at a moment's notice, Colonel Paterson was about to re- 
turn to the Second Congress. On the 20th the news of the 
battle of Lexington and the fight at the bridge at Concord, or, 
much more probably, the news of the starting of the British 
troops from Boston, reached Lenox by special couriers, who 
had ridden night and day by relays to carry it. These events, 
following so quickly one upon the other, demanded attention 
at once, and the town responded immediately. The battle 
-occui'red on Wednesday ; the news arrived by relays of cour- 
iers on Friday, the 17th, at noon ; and on Saturday morning 
at sunrise the regiment, which was completely armed and 
equipped and for the most part in uniform, marched.* Colonel 
Paterson left the regiment at Cambridge, but acted as colonel 
of his regiment and delegate in the Congi'ess at the same time, 
until the Congress adjourned. Between May 23d and 29th, 
when the Second Congress adjourned, they resolved to issue 
commissions to colonels of regiments who should procure cer- 
tificates from the Committee of Safety that their regiments 
were filled with the proper complement of men. On the 26th 
of May, 1775, Colonel Paterson having assured the Committee 
of Safety from his seat in the Congress that his regiment 
had 496 enlisted men, was nearly full, was ready for service 
and actufdly in the field, a certifiicate of that fact was given 
to him, and it was recommended that the regiment be com- 
missioned by the Provincial Congress as a part of the Con- 
tinental Army. 

* Azaria Egleston, afterward his son-iu-law, was in this regiment. 



52 



LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 



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COLONEL PATERSON's REGIMENT, 53 

"Capn John McKinstry in Nobletown took out inlisting Orders from 1775 
Capn Charles Dibbell in Colo Paterson's Eegiment, we suppose his Com- 
pany to be full & near if not quite eompleat as to Arms & may be ex- 
pected here this week 

"Capn Douglas at Jerico took inlisting Orders as above, we suppose 
his Company to be full & arms sufficient, this company may be expected 
here by next Monday at furtherst 

" Capn Ingersols Company may be expected every hour, he took inlist- 
ing Orders from Capn Wm Guttridge & is now on his March, supposed 
to be full and eompleat with Arms 

" Capn Pratt, we have heard is gone or proposes to go to the North- 
ward 

" Capn Strong, we are doubtful whether he will get his Company full 

"John Paterson 
"Wm Goodrich* 
"Cambridge, June 13th, 1775" 

On the 29th of May the Second Provincial Congress was 
dissolved, and he went at once to his regiment in the field, and 
never left the army, except on a very short furlough, until he 
retired in December, 1783. The important part that Colonel 
Paterson took in these congresses is shown by the fact that he 
was a member of so many committees dimng the Fii'st and 
Second Congresses, and that they were for the most part those 
which gave the tone and character to the congresses. In 
everything relating to military and legal matters he was the 
ruling spu'it. 

It is remarkable that while for nine months all the ordinary 
methods of government had been at a stand-stOl, and that 
violence might have resulted at any time, yet there had been 
no disturbances in the affairs of every-day life. Things had 
gone on as usual. The acts of the governor had been peace- 
ably resisted. Every one was satisfied that the first act of 
violence must be committed by the governor, and then they 
would be sm-e of the co-operation of every one of the colonies. 
Drilling went on in every town in the evening on the village 
green. War supplies were openly collected. Organizations 
were perfected, but every one throughout the entu-e land knew 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. exlvi., p. 192. 



64 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1775 that it was indispensable that the government should fii-e the 
fii'st shot. It was not the first time that armed resistance had 
been prepared against the encroachments of the British crown. 
The first departure of armed men from Lenox to Boston was 
on an unfounded alarm in 1774. The people had been ready 
once on a false alarm, and when the fii'st real cause came, 
which was after the battles of Lexington and Concord, when 
Revere gave the appointed signal from the church tower, 
they marched \vathout delay. Colonel Paterson having been re- 
lieved from his ci^^l duties by the adjournment of the Second 
Congress on the 29th of May, and being in the field with his- 
regiment. Captain Caleb Hyde * was sent as the representative 
of Lenox. 

On the 10th of May Ticonderoga had been captured, and a 
few days later St. John's. Those fortresses commanded the 
northern approaches to the Hudson River, and were the 
strategic centers of the whole northern country. It was neces- 
sary to hold them if an invasion of Canada was to be carried out. 
on the one hand, and to prevent invasion from Canada on the 
other. With them were captured large quantities of military 
stores and cannon, of which the army was in need, and which 
were of the greatest use in the operations around Boston 
which were shortly to be carried out. The Continental Con- 
gress met in Philadelphia on the same day. This body was. 
an advisory one without any legal power, but as there was no 
other central government it soon became in fact the govern- 
ing body. They elected John Hancock as President in the 
teeth of his proscription by the king's officers. They were 
afraid that the garrisoning of Ticonderoga was going too far, 
but finally consented to it, and they adopted the army before 
Boston as '' The Continental Army of the United Colonies," 
and appointed Colonel George Washington as commander-in- 
chief, with the title of General. 

The Thu-d Provincial Congress convened at Watertown on 

* This was the Caleb Hyde whose daughter Clarissa married John Pat- 
etson's eldest sou. 



THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. 55 

May 31, 1775, and adjourned July 19tli. As Colonel Paterson 1775 
was in the field, Captain Caleb Hyde took his place as repre- 
sentative from Lenox. This Third Congress, in view of what 
was about to happen, revised the commission of the Commit- 
tee of Safety and Supplies, and gave them authority to call 
meetings of the Congress at any time, and other powers. On 
June 4th they ordered that Colonel Paterson's regiment should 
be paid out of the first moneys collected by the receiver- 
general. On June 26th they " Resolved that Captain MeKin- 
str}- and Captain Porter, who have each raised a company in 
New York and Connecticut, be permitted to join Colonel Pat- 
erson's regiment, provided their companies are full or near 
full, and that each man is provided with a good and sufficient 
fire-lock, and that they join the regiment as soon as possible." 
In the interval between the time that Governor Gage 
had been practically set aside by the people, and while the 
provincial congresses and the Committee of Safety were 
exercising all executive and legislative powers, the courts 
were closed; but the people were actuated by gi-eat prin- 
ciples, and not only were no great crimes committed any- 
where which required the actions of the courts, but good 
order prevailed everywhere. Whatever judicial powers were 
necessary were exercised by members of the provincial con- 
gresses, not by \drtue of commissions or authority given to 
them by anybody for the purpose, but by common consent. 
The people took upon themselves the executive duties in aU de- 
partments, and common consent was the only authority known 
and recognized. They had learned the principle of represent- 
ative government from the mother-country, but they had 
learned still another lesson, which was, that since they had 
ceased to have hereditary of&cers, to appoint their own by 
election; and finding themselves not sufficiently strong to 
act alone, they commenced to act first by unions of to^nis 
and then of counties, and finally by confederation of all the 
provinces ; and to represent this union the First Continental 
Congress was called at Philadelphia, on September 5, 1774, 
and then the provincial congresses continued only as a mat- 



56 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATEKSON. 

1775 ter of necessity, with the expectation of surrendering their 
powers, as they eventually did, to the Continental Congi-ess. 

On the 3d of June, 1776, after the troops had left Lenox, 
the representatives of the town in the Congress were directed 
to '' suppress all the tyrannical measures that have or may take 
place from Great Britain, and likewise to take as much care 
that you do not set up anything of a despotic power among 
ourselves, but let us have freedom at home, although we have 
war abroad." They were further directed " to use your ut- 
most abilities and interest with our Assembly, and they theirs 
with the Continental Congress, that if they think it safe for 
the colonies, they declare them independent of the kingdom 
of Great Britain. And in your so doing, we do declare, in 
the above-mentioned thing, We'll stand by you with our lives 
and fortunes." On the 16tli of August, 1776, the first war- 
rants for a town meeting were issued, " in the name and by 
the authority of the people of Massachusetts Bay." On Jan- 
uary 27, 1788, the articles of confederation and perpetual union, 
together with the resolves of Congress, were read in town meet- 
ing, and it was " voted unanimously that they are agreeable." 
No persons were allowed to enter the town or to remain there 
unless recommended by a committee, that they were friendly 
to the United States of America. The families that would 
not be reconciled were banished and their property confis- 
cated, or they were watched and compelled to remain at home. 

These provincial congresses cannot be looked at as individ- 
ual assemblies. Their history and their significance can only 
be appreciated by knowing the history of every town which 
sent representatives to them. All of the county conventions 
and congi'esses, the committees of safety, and the Continental 
Congress which prepared and issued the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, were inspired by the same spirit, and the majority 
of the people in every town represented the enthusiasm of the 
then two millions of inhabitants of the United States. Not 
that there were not people who held back and considered the 
Revolution a mistake. There were even people who died in 
the last decade but one who still considered that the separa- 



COLONEL PATERSON AT BOSTON. 57 

tion from England was an error ; but the spirit of revolution 1775 
was abroad and was contagious, and as the most of the people 
came to this country only a few years before to escape the op- 
pressions of tyranny, it was not at all surprising that they 
should resent them at this time. 

On its arrival in Boston Colonel Paterson's regiment served 
nine days as minute-men. It was reorganized and enlarged, 
and on the 15th of June, 1775, was transferred to the Conti- 
nental service, the Second Continental Congi-ess having just 
adopted all the troops besieging the British in Boston who 
were willing to join the army. Colonel Paterson's regiment 
enlisted at once for a period of eight months, but before the 
end of that time most of the men re-enUsted for a longer time. 
The regiments sent by the various counties and States thus 
became the nucleus of the famous Continental Army, of which 
Washington was the commander-in-chief. Colonel Paterson's 
regiment became the 15th Foot in the Continental Infantiy 
service. It was stationed about a mile and a half beyond 
Cambridge, and thi'ew up the fii'st redoubt along the lines 
around Boston which turned that city into a besieged town 
by blockading the highways and fortifying the country around. 
The regiment built and garrisoned Fort No. 3 (see map No. 1), 
at Prospect HiU, on Charlestown Heights, directly west of 
Bunker Hill and three miles away from it, in that part of 
Charlestown known as Sommerville. Colonel Paterson con- 
tinued to command this fort until the evacuation of Boston. 
He was expressly ordered by General Ward to man and de- 
fend it at the time of the battle of Bunker Hill, on June 17, 
1775, to prevent the British troops landing and getting in the 
rear of our army. In this they were successful. On the 12th 
of June, General Gage, having completed his fortifications, and 
having under him an army of ten thousand men, issued a proc- 
lamation offering free pardon to every rebel who would lay 
doA\ai his arms and return to his allegiance, except Adams and 
Hancock. In reply, the Committee of Safety ordered a force 
of twelve thousand men to take possession of Bunker Hill. 
On the 16th, at sunset, they started, and worked at the earth- 



58 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATER^ON. 

1775 works during the night. In the morning they were cannon- 
aded by the vessels in the harbor with no effect. It was evi- 
dent they must either be taken in the rear by going round to 
Charlestown Neck by sea and cutting them off — and this is 
what General Ward, the American commander, thought they 
would do — or be taken by assault, and this Tvas finally decided 
on. The British forces started at noon, and at three o'clock 
were ready to storm the intrenchments. When the intelli- 
gence of the landing of the British forces reached Cambridge 
the alarm bells were rung and the drums beat to arms. 
General Ward, who was in command of the American forces, 
had his headquarters at Cambridge. He had only given, after 
much pressure, a reluctant consent to fortify the heights of 
Charlestown. He was fully aware of the imminent danger 
of an attack in his rear by the British, and reserved some 
of his best troops, in whom and in whose officers he could 
have the most implicit confidence, to prepare for the expected 
attack on Cambridge (and among these was Colonel Paterson's 
and Colonel Gardner's regiments), but he ordered the rest to 
Charlestown. Colonel Gardner was ordered to Colonel Pater- 
son's station on Prospect Hill. On the morning of the battle 
General Ward had, against his judgment, but at the earnest 
soUcitation of his officers, sent reinforcements to defend the re- 
doubts on Bunl^er and Breed's Hills that had been thrown up 
in the night. When later in the forenoon he received a request 
for more reinforcements, he " refused to weaken further the 
main army at Cambridge," on the ground that it was certain 
to be attacked. About eleven o'clock he was prevailed on to 
send reinforcements. When he learned that the British had 
actually landed and that it had become doubtful whether the 
Americans could hold theu* intrenchments on Breed's and 
Bunker Hills, General Ward ordered forward his own regi- 
ment and those of Paterson and Gardner; but the order 
was given too late to be of any service, for, having exhausted 
their ammunition and being worn out with the labors of the 
previous night and the fighting of the day, our forces were 
obhged to abandon the peninsida. During the afternoon 



BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 59 

Colonel Paterson was at Jack Tuft's storehouse near to tlu; 177^ 
road leading to Milk Row in Cambridge, where the wounded 
from the front were brought. Only one man in his regiment 
was wounded. After the retreat General Ward was very- 
apprehensive that the British, encouraged by their success, 
would advance on Cambridge, and he took every precaution 
against it. But the enemy were too fearful of a reception 
similar to the one they had just received at Bunker Hill 
to undertake it. The actual fighting did not last more than 
an hour. James Otis, who had become harmlessly insane 
from the brutal and causeless attack made on him in Sep- 
tember, 1769, fought in this battle and came out of it un- 
harmed. Those men were not soldiers. Every man was 
fighting for his life and for every right that makes life dear. 
They were determined to preserve at aU hazards what rights 
they had. Every man of them had been trained from boy- 
hood never to waste ammunition, so that every officer and 
private was a sharp-shooter, and every bullet told. The Brit- 
ish lost 1054 men, more than one third of the force engaged. 
The Americans lost 449, about one fourth of those who did 
the fighting. Only one of General Howe's staff survived his 
wounds. 

A description of the camp during these memorable days 
does not show the uniformity which is considered so neces- 
sary to a well-organized army. These men had been assem- 
bled in haste to defend principles. There was only time to 
collect such camp equipage as was at hand. Their tents were 
as "different in their form as the owners are in their dress, 
and every tent is a portraiture of the temper and taste of the 
persons who encamp in it. Some are made of boards and 
some of sail-cloth ; some partly of one and partly of the 
other. Again, others are made of stone and turf, brick or 
brush ; some are thrown up in a hurry, others curiously 
wrought with doors and windows, done with wreaths and 
withes in the manner of a basket. Some are your proper 
tents and marquees, which are furnished with tent equipage^ 
and everything in the most exact English style." * 
♦Sparks' " Life of Washington." 



60 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1775 The British took the earthworks at Bunker Hill, but the 
battle belonged to the patriots. A few such victories at that 
time would have destroyed the British army and ended the 
war. In a technical sense the British won the victory, but it 
was a greater victory to the defeated Americans, because it 
taught them the lesson that a body of undisciplined men, not 
even militia, fighting for their rights, were capable of with- 
standing the attacks of a disciplined soldiery. 

On May 4, 1775, Rhode Island renounced allegiance to the 
king. 



CHAPTER III. 

SIEGE OF BOSTON TO THE BATTLE OF TRENTON. 

There was much to be done after the battle to secure the re- 1775 
treat of our forces and to prevent the British from pursuing 
the soldiers beyond Charlestown Neck into the open country. 
It was Colonel Paterson's duty to defend Cambridge, which he 
did ; but the British had suffered too heavily to make any fiu*- 
ther demonstration, and a few days found them besieged in 
Boston as a direct result of their victory. The news of what 
was then thought to be the defeat of Bunker Hill reached 
Lenox quickly. The town never had been before, and never 
has been since, lacking in patriotism of the kind that is will- 
ing to sacrifice both life and treasure in defense of liberty, 
and on June 26th two more companies, in addition to those 
abeady in the field, started from Lenox to join Colonel Pat- 
erson. The hurry with which the troops had left Lenox, 
the impromptu provision that had been made for them, and 
how poorly equipped they were, is shown by the petition and 
letter of Colonel Paterson to the Third Provincial Congress, 
then in session, and his letter to the Committee of Supplies at 

Watertown, given below : 

"Watertown, June 20, 1775.* 

" To the Honorable Provincial Congress noiv sitting at Watertown : 

" Gentlemen : The petition of John Paterson in behalf of his Eegi- 
ment Humbly Sheweth that they being now at Head Quarters are put to 
great Inconvenience and the Hazard of their Health by reason of their 
being destitute of Blankets. The reasons of their not being furnished 
are such as follows : The Men came off upon an Alarm, and the Blankets 
could not be obtained in the Towns they came from ; that one of the 
Companies in the Regiment is made up of the people who came in from 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. clxxx., p. 59. 
61 



62 LIFE OF IVIAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1775 Boston. Your petitioner knows where the Blankets may be had upon 
the Credit of the Province, provided an order is given for it, which your 
petitioner prays may be Immediately done, and your petitioner, as in 
Duty Bound, shall Ever Pray, etc. "John Paterson." 

"Gentlemen.* the Bearer is a person who imderstands rigging of 
Gims, & the General ordered me to keep him at the Business, but can- 
not for want of Tools. Should be extremely obliged to you if youed be 
so kind as to direct him in this affair as we have a Number of Guns in our 
Eegiment at present useless 

" I am Gentlemen Your 

"Most Obedt. Servt. 

"June 28. 1775 "J- PatersON 

" To the Hon"' Committee of 

" Supplys at Watertown.'''' 

On June 30th the Committee of Safety ordered forty small- 
arms to be delivered to Colonel John Paterson, which he re- 
ceipted for as follows : 

"June 30, 1775 1 
"Received of the Committee of Safety, Forty Small Arms for the use 
of my Regiment amounting as by Appraisement to Seventyeight pounds, 
sixteen shillings and four Pence which Guns I engage shall be returned 
in good order unless lost in the service of this Colony 

"John Paterson CoUo." 

The request for blankets was complied with on the same 
day ; but unfortunately these representations of the distress 
of the men were not always so promptly heeded, and when 
the fall came, complaints became loud and sometimes led to 
infractions of discipline, and on November 15th Colonel Pater- 
son was ordered, as president of a court-martial, to tiy soldiers 
engaged in a mutiny in camp. In the light of to-day our 
sympathies are with the men who suffered, though not with 
the unlawful means they took to get redress for their wrongs, 
for wrongs they were. We are very apt to think that the 
wrong-doing was only on the British side, but as to-day we 
look back on the sufferings of the men in our own army, who 
had sacrificed everything and failed to get redress for their 

* From the collection of D. McN. Stauffer, New York. 
t Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxl., p. 77. 



DISCIPLINE OF THE ARMY. 63 

wrongs, we are apt to ask the question in what light the ac- 1775 
tions of the provinces who rebelled against their king on ac- 
count of wrongs inflicted on them, and for which they could 
obtain by legal means no redress, differed in any way from 
the rebellion of those men against their officers for wrongs 
no less real, which were accompanied with danger to their 
lives. They could obtain no redi'css by petition, and the pri- 
vations of some of them, which they had willingly endured 
up to this time, cost them their lives. Their heroism was 
shown afterward in many a fight, and their patience in many 
an ill-provided camp. Those who lived saw, or thought they 
saw, the same fate before them. Nothing but the noblest 
patriotism kept them in many cases from desertion to the 
enemy. No neglect of discipline was tolerated in either offi- 
cers or men. Those who thought themselves justified by the 
difficulties of their situation in falling short of the duty they 
owed to their country, and happily there were but few of 
them, found how entirely they were mistaken. We find one 
of the captains in Colonel Paterson's regiment was, on August 
7, 1775, court-martialed for "neglect of duty," and sentenced 
" to be reprimanded at the head of the regiment," and that on 
August 14th Colonel Paterson was member of another court- 
martial to try a colonel of one of the Massachusetts regiments 
for "high crimes and misdemeanors." On October 3d "John 
Gallop of Capt. Watkins' [Williams] Company in Coll" Pat- 
terson's Kegiment Try'd at the above Court Martial for ab- 
senting himself from his Kegiment from the 27th of June to 
the 27th of September following, and for carrying off and dis- 
posing of a Colony Gun. The Court find the Prisoner Guilty 
of the Crime where with he was accused, and sentence him 
to be whipped on his Bare Back 15 lashes, and order the 
value of his Gun to be stopped out of his pay." 

On the 2d of July General Washington arrived in Cam- 
bridge, and on the following day took formal command of 
the army. Up to this time the army besieging Boston was 
composed of 16,000 men under local commanders and their 
own provincial flags. Artemas Ward of Massachusetts was ' 



64 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1775 by courtesy the commander-in-chief. In this army 11,500 men 
were from Massachusetts, 2300 from Connecticut, 1200 from 
New Hampshire, and 1000 from Rhode Island. The army 
was a local one. A month later the army ceased to be local, 
for Congress sent 3000 men from Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
and Vu'ginia. These men were not soldiers, most of them 
not even militia, but they knew how to use a gun, and were 
practiced hunters. They had been enlisted in the enthusi- 
asm of the moment for various periods, and had almost noth- 
ing except a musket that belonged to a soldiei''s outfit ; but 
with little to do beyond the ordinary routine of military life, 
and with no fighting, it was wonderful that they could be kept 
together. Out of this material it now devolved on Washing- 
ton to make an army, to find officers for it, and to organize a 
capable staff. Any one of the officers and men knew all about 
the management of a town meeting, but they knew little or 
nothing about military organization. Few armies have ever 
had to struggle with such difficulties. The idea had taken pos- 
session of the people that the war was to be a short one ; con- 
sequently the enlistments were for short periods. The re- 
sult of this idea was that the army had not only to be 
created, but at short periods to be constantly made over. 
There was no properly organized government, and even Con- 
gress expected battles to be fought and won against some of 
the best di'illed troops of Europe before this constantly made- 
over army was half drilled. Massachusetts was the first to 
elect a legislature, which was done soon after Washington's 
arrival, and she ended her proclamation with, '' God save the 
people ! " instead of the usual formula, " God save the King." 
The other colonies foUowed. Still Congress was unwilling to 
declare the colonies independent until one more effort had 
been made with the king. They therefore sent delegates to 
act independently so as not to offend the king, for it was 
well known that he would not recognize the colonies as a 
united body ; and wliile all the military preparations went on 
about Boston with great activity. Congress and the people 
waited patiently to hear the result of the petition. Here was 



FIRST FLAGS. 65 

an armed force in the field, an independent Congress in ses- 1775 
sion, with the sole object of obtaining redress. 

Samuel Adams iu 1768 had made up his mind that inde- 
pendence was the only hope of the American people; but 
even Washington himself was not at that time convinced 
that the object of raising the army which he commanded 
was to gain the independence of the colonies. In the course 
of the month of July Jefferson wrote, " We have not raised 
armies with designs of separating from Great Britain and es- 
tablishing independent States. Necessity has not yet driven 
us into that desperate measure."' 

Up to this time there was no general flag used by the colo- 
nists. On the 18th of July, 1775, the 3d Connecticut Eegi- 
ment raised the first American flag, in the face of the enemy, 
on Prospect Hill. Previous to the Eevolution each colony 
set up its own standard. No colors were used by the men 
who fought at Lexington and Concord. But soon after it 
the General Assembly of Connecticut voted to raise seven 
regiments for the defense of the colony, and in May they 
ordered standards for each regiment. Each regiment had 
a different color. That of the 3d Connecticut Regiment 
was scarlet. This is the standard called " Putnam's flag,'* 
and the one which he ordered to be raised on Prospect 
Hill. 

" On the 18th of July Major-General Putnam assembled his division 
on the heights of Prospect Hill, to have read to it the manifesto of 
Congress, signed by John Hancock, the president, and countersigned 
by Charles Thomson, secretary. The reading was followed by a 
prayer suited to the occasion, and, at the close of the prayer, at a sig- 
nal from the general, the troops cried ' Amen,' and, at the same instant, 
the artillery of the fort thundered a general salute, and the scarlet 
standard of the Third Connecticut Regiment, recently sent to General 
Putnam, bearing on the one side the Connecticut motto, ' Qui transtulit 
sustinet,' and on tlie other the recognized motto of Massachusetts, ' An 
appeal to heaven,' was unfurled. The same ceremony was observed in 
the other divisions." * 

* Preble. 



66 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHX PATERSON. 

1775 This was the first flag-raising of the Revolutionary army. 
The salute whicli was given to it alarmed the British to 
such an extent that they were at once paraded in order of 
battle. 

Up to the year previous to the planting of Jamestown, in 
• 1607, the English flag had always been the red cross of St. 
George on a white ground ; but in 1606 the white cross of St. 
Andrew, which had been the standard of the Scots since the 
Crusades, was added to it, and the field was changed from 
white to blue, and from this time this flag was called the 
" King's colors," or sometimes the "Union colors." This was 
the flag under which all the first settlers who came to this 
country sailed. Many of the Puritans, however, regarded the 
red cross as a relic of popery, and despised it because it had 
been given to England by a pope. This feeling went so far 
that in November, 1631, Endicott defaced the flag by cutting- 
out the red ci'oss, and man}^ of the colonists refused to use it. 
The matter was referred to the ministers, who finally decided 
that, as the fort at the entrance to Boston harbor undoubtedly 
belonged to the king, the "King's colors" should be dis- 
played there, but only while vessels were passing, and from 
this time, 1634, it was proposed that no flag should be used 
by the colonists, and none was used. 

In 1651 the General Court of Massachusetts ordered the use 
of the cross of St. George in that colony ; but in 1707 the 
color of the flag was made crimson in England, and the two 
crosses were placed in the upper left-hand corner of it. This 
flag was not adopted by the colonies, who continued to use 
the "King's colors." In the year 1707 they accepted the 
change of color, but each colony adopted a device of its own 
in the place of the crosses. Massachusetts adopted a pine tree, 
and many of the other colonies their own arms with a motto. 
The flags were of all shapes and sizes, but there was nothing 
■ that was in general use ; so much so, that Washington, in 
1775, wrote to the commanders of our cruisers, " Please fix 
on some flag by which the vessels may be known." 



PETITION TO THE COURT. 67 

The snake flag— a coiled snake ready to spring, and bearing 1775 
the motto "Beware!" "Don't tread on me!" " Come, if 
you dare ! " — was largely used by the Southern colonies. A 
chain of thirteen links, a ring, a tiger, and a field of wheat, 
were also used. 

On July 22, 1775, the army was divided into three grand 
divisions consisting of two brigades each. Colonel Paterson's 
regiment, which then contained 409 men, was in the center of 
the left wing of the third division, commanded by Major- 
General Putnam. On July 22d he was ordered by General 
Washington to retain his position at Fort No. 8. On August 
13th, November 15th, and November 17th, Colonel Paterson 
was president of courts-martial. 

The news that the king had determined to hire troops to 
act against his loyal and patient subjects reached Boston on 
October 31st ; the same day the news of the burning of Port- 
land also arrived. Congress determined that they would not 
wait any longer and would send no more petitions to the king, 
and the people supported them. They had determined to 
garrison Ticonderoga as a matter of precaution ; now they 
determined on the invasion of Canada and to drive out the 
king's troops, and at the same time defy his authority if they 
could not obtain redress. 

The Provincial Congress had neglected to forward their 
commissions to those who marched at so short notice after the 
battle of Lexington, and on October 23d Colonel Paterson 
forwarded to the Congress a petition from them, stating that 
they had served as officers from the date of raising the regi- 
ment, and asking that the commissions be sent, 

" Province of I To the Honorable Council <^- House of Representatives 
Massachusetts Bay S In General Court at Watertoivn Assembled : 

" Gentn : The Petition of Us the Subscribers humbly sheweth that we 
have been at part of the Trouble and Expense of raising Several Com- 
panies in the 26th Regiment of Foot, Commanded by Colonel John Pat- 
erson, and marching them to Camp, and have served as Officers in said 
Regiment, had encouragement of being Commissioned as such, but 
through Neglect have not yet received said Commissions. We therefore 



68 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1775 Humbly pray this Honorable Coiirt, if they in their great Wisdom should 

think fit, to grant us commissions accordingly, and your Petitioners as in 

Duty bound shall ever pray, etc. 

" Jedh Sanger 2d Lieut. 

"John McKinstry Captain 

"Amos Porter 2^ Lieut. 

"William Walker Adjutant 

"William Wilkins 2d Lieut. 

" Thom McKinstry 1st Lieut. 

"Jacob Lyon 2d Lieut. 

" John Pennoyer 2d Lieut. 

"Edw. Cumpston 2d Lieut." 

"This may certify that the within-Named Officers have served in 
their respective Offices during the summer past. 

" John Paterson Col 26th Reg. 
" October 23, 1775." * 

In October, 1775, the term of enlistment of most of the 
troops had expired, and so many of the men refused to re-en- 
list that Washington's situation at Cambridge was really pre- 
carious. Fortunately, a knowledge of this did not reach the 
British commander. A committee of the Continental Con- 
gress visited Cambridge on October 22, 1775, and after consul- 
tation with Washington resolved to enlist a new army for 
a year. Colonel Paterson filled his regiment, but the re- 
enlistment was slow in all the regiments. On the whole, the 
ranks were better filled than before. The conduct of the regi- 
ment on the 9th of November, 1775, in resisting an attack of 
the British at Lechmere's Point, now West Cambridge, was 
mentioned with great praise in the general orders by Wash- 
ington on the next day. The tide was so high that it covered 
the land end of the point, and converted it at that time of day 
into an island. The regiment " gallantly waded through the 
water up to their necks in order to make the attack, and soon 
obliged the enemy to embark under cover of a man-of-war, a 
floating battery, and the fire of a battery on Charlestown 
Neck."f Wa.shington said of this action that "the alacrity 

♦Massachusetts Archives, vol. clxiv., p. 173. 

f Letter of General Washington to the President of Congress. 



COUKT-MARTIAL. 69 

of the riflemen and officers upon this occasion did them 1775 
honor, to which Colonel Paterson's regiment and some others 
were equally entitled." The regiment was again shortly 
afterward praised for its ability in resisting the attack of a 
marauding part}' at the same place, who were supported by 
the guns of a frigate. 

How important the work at Lechmere's Point was is 
shown by Washington's letter to General Reed under date 
of February 10, 1776 : 

" We have had a most laborious piece of work at Lechmere's Point 
on account of the frost. We hope to get it finished on Sunday. It is 
within as commanding a distance of Boston as Dorchester Hill, though 
of a different part. ' * 

The following extracts, taken from the records during the 

regiment's sojourn in Cambridge, show for what kind of want 

of discipline, and for what misdemeanors, it was necessary to 

punish these raw recruits : 

" Head Quarters Cambridge 
" 2 Dec. 1775 
" General Orders 

" James McCormick of Capt. Dibble's Company in Colo Pattersons 
Regt Try'd at a General Court Martial, for Striking Genel Putnam's 
Horse, and saying at the same time, ' Dam you who is there. Clear 
the Road ' and for Repeatedly leaving the Camp, without Orders. The 
Court are of the opinion, that the Prisoner is guilty, of a Breach of 
the 3d 15, 16 & 17tb articles of War, and adjudged to Receive 39 
Lashes on his bare back.'* f 

" Head Quarters, 3d Dec. 1775 
" Sergant James King, of Colo Patterson's Regiment, Try'd at the 
same Gen'l Court Martial, upon an appeal of a Regimental Court Mar- 
tial. — the Court whereof is of oppinion, that the Prisoner is guilty, of, 
Being absent from his Regiment, without leave, and of striking, and 
abusing, Sergent Goodrich, when in the execution of his Duty, and 
therefore adjudge the Prisoner, to be reduced to the Ranks, and pay a 
fine of Twenty Shillings, to be approximated, according to the 5l3t 
Article, of the Rules and Regulations of the Army." I 

* " Washington's Writings," Sparks, vol. iii., p. 287. 
f Glover's Orderly Book, under date. 
X Glover's Orderly Book, under date. 



70 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1776 The regiment was constantly engaged in the siege of Bos- 
ton until it was evacuated. The three regiments commanded 
by Ward, Putnam, and Paterson were declared to be " the 
flower of the Continental Army." On the 28th of December 
the eight regiments then at Cambridge were reorganized, both 
the men and officers having been satisfied that it was wisest 
to enlist for a longer period. 

On the 1st of January, 1776, the parole was "The Con- 
gress," and the countersign "America." On this day the 
reorganization of the army went into effect. It was, in real- 
ity, a new army, with a new flag, for on that day the first 
striped flag was used at Washington's headquarters in Cam- 
bridge. It had thirteen stripes, seven red and six white, to 
represent the thirteen colonies, with the cross of St. George 
and St. Andrew on a blue ground in the upper left-hand 
corner. 

The same day General Howe sent to General Washington 
the king's speech from the throne in Parliament, announcing 
that the British nation would never give up the colonies, 
that both its army and navy had been strengthened, and ne- 
gotiations commenced for foreign aid, and declaring that " a 
rebellious war" was carried on to establish an independent 
empire ; it was read in camp. The English authorities thought 
that this speech would dampen the ardor of the colonists, and 
when they heard the salute of thirteen guns, and the shouts 
which accompanied it, they thought it was a token of sub- 
mission. So great was the indignation of the Americans, 
however, that they burned the speech, and the troops com- 
menced to substitute for the title " His Gracious Majesty " 
the epithet of '• that man George." The idea of independence 
was accepted by the troops then and there assembled, but the 
idea of loyalty was so thoroughly engrafted in the early edu- 
cation of every man, woman, and child, that it was not until 
long after that the people as a whole accepted it. 

In January, 1776, the regiment went into barracks on Pros- 
pect Hill. On January 8th it was thought desirable to dis- 



VICTORY AT MOORE's CREEK. 71 

lodge the British who occupied houses in Charlestown below 1776 
Bunker Hill. This was accomplished between eight and nine 
in the evening, without the loss of a man, the regiment show- 
ing the greatest prowess, daring, and bravery. On January 24, 
the regiments were brigaded, in the following order : Glover, 
Paterson, Arnold, Hutching. On February 3d, Colonel Pat- 
erson presided at a court-martial. Desertion was not com- 
mon, but a case of it which occurred on February 23d met 
with severe punishment. 

"Feb. 23, 1776.* 

" Mark Noble of Cap* Nobles Company in Colo Patersons Regt, try'd 
by a late Genl Court Martial whereof Colo Phinney was President — 
for Desertion is found guilty & sentenced to Receive Fifteen lashes 
upon his Bare Back & Mulcted one Month's pay, to defray the Expence 
of Apprehending & Bringing the Prisoner to Camp. The General Ap- 
proves the sentence & commands the Execution of it at such time & 
place as the Colonel of the Regt shall Direct." 

On February 27th the victory of Moore's Creek, N. C, took 
place, with the capture of two thousand stand of arms and 
fifteen thousand pounds in gold, which for the South had the 
same effect as Lexington for the North, and resulted in the 
raising of ten thousand men, so the British dared not attempt 
to try to obtain a foothold there. 

On the first day of March, 1776, the colony of South Caro- 
lina instructed her delegates in the Continental Congress to 
vote for Independence. On the same day some of the captured 
cannon and stores from Ticonderoga arrived in Cambridge. 
This was a very important addition to their scanty supplies. 
It is said that the whole number of cannons which the Kevo- 
lutionary Army possessed at this time did not exceed ten. On 
March 4th it was determined to fortify Dorchester Heights, 
and in the night it was done. The attention of the British 
had been drawn away from what was going on by a cannonade 
from Somerville, East Cambridge, and Roxbury. When, the 
next morning, Howe saw what had been done during the night, 

* Glover's Orderly Book, under date. 



72 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON, 

17T6 lie determined to take the position, and he ordered an attack ; 
but a violent storm, and the recollection of Bunker Hill, made 
him put it off for so long a time, that the position had become 
impregnable, and he countermanded his orders. 

The following orders show how necessary it was to be on 
the alert around Cambridge : 

" Head Quarters, Cambridge,* 
"2nd March, 1776. 

" Upon any Alarm, Colo Patterson's Eegt, is to immediately to 
Repair to Lechmere's Point, leaving one Capt Two Subbs Two 
Sergts, & Fifty Rank & File, in the work, leading to the Bridge. 

"Colo Bond's Regt is to immediately to march to Cobble Hill, & 
ColoSargents Regt to the North, Middle, & South Redoubts. This is 
to be considered as a Standing Order, until countermanded. 

"General Heath's, Sullivan's, Green's, and Trye's Brigades, are in 
Rotation, to March a Regiment, an hour before Day, every morning 
into the works on Lechmere's Point, & Cobble Hill ; Five companies 
of which, to go to the Former, & three to the latter. They are to re- 
main in the works until Sunrise. 

"The Field Officers, for the Guards, at Lechmere's Point, Cobble & 
Ploughed Hills, are to consist of Lt Colo & Majors, as those for the 
Day are Colonels. 

"The Commanding Officers, of Regiments, who have neglected to 
see their Men supplied, with Fascines, are immediately to Order, every 
Non Commissioned Officer, & soldier, to provide one good Fascine, 
which is to be put under the Sentry, of the Qua* Guard of the Regt " 

The following were the orders for the field-officers on the 
respective dates : 

"March 3, 1776.t 
" Field OflScers for the Day, Colonel Paterson and Colonel Reed." 

" March 9th, 1776.t 
" Field Officers for the Day, Colonel Little and Colonel Paterson." 

"March 13, 1776.t 
" Field Officers for the Day, Colos Poor & Paterson." 

The alarm signals were to be given by the flag on Prospect 

Hill. 

* Glover's Orderly Book, under date, 
f Glover's Orderly Book, under dates. 



PREPARATION TO LEAVE BOSTON. 73 

" March 4, 1776.* 1776 

" The flagg, on prospect Hill, & that at the Labratory, on Cambridge 
Common are Ordered to be Hoisted, only upon a General Alarm : of 
this, the whole Army, is to take particular Notice, & Immediatly, upon 
those Colors being Displayed, Every Officer, & Soldier, must repair to 
his Alarm Post. This, to remain a Standing Order, until the Com- 
mander in Chief shall please to Direct other wise." 

On March 12th Colonel Paterson issued the discharge papers 
of a number of soldiers : " This certifies that the within-named 
persons were soldiers in my regiment until discharged by 
General Washington. — John Paterson, Col." On March 
13, 1776, he was one of the field-ofticers. The same day at a 
council of war "it was concluded that, should Boston be 
evacuated, it would be unnecessary to employ the army for the 
defense of Massachusetts, as its militia were adequate for this 
work." Orders were issued at once for the Massachusetts 
troops to march for New York, but they did not march until 
the 18th. The following are the orders : 

" Head Quarters, Cambridge, March 14, 1776. f 

"Stark's, Paterson's, Webb's, Greaton's, Brooks' Regts, together 
with two Companies of Artillery, are to march to morrow morning, at 
10 o'clock, under the Command of Biigadier Genl Heath, who will 
Receive his Orders, from the Adjutant Genl this Evening at Head 
Quarters. The Q. M. G. will furnish them with wagons, & the Rout by 
which they will march. The men ai-e to be supplied, with five days 
provisions, good part of which they will do well to cook, before they 
leave Cambridge, as there may be difficulty in doing it on the road." 

' ' The Genl again reminds the Officers and Soldiers, of the other 
Regiments of the Necessity of being ready for a march, as they may 
not have more than an hours notice." 

On the 15th a fire broke out in the regimental barracks, 
which consumed six rooms and considerable ammunition. 
Colonel Paterson took charge of putting out the fire, and 
showed the greatest bravery and personal courage in doing it. 

General Washington writes Lord Sterling, commanding 
officer at New York : 

♦Glover's Orderly Book, under date. 
\ Glover's Orderly Book, under date. 



74 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1776 •' March 14, 1776.* 

" I have stronger reasons, since I wrote to you last, to confirm me, 
in my opinion, that the army, imder General Howe, is on its departure. 
All their movements indicate it ; but lest it be a feint, I must continue 
on my guard, and not weaken my lines too much, until I have a cer- 
tainty of their departure. It is given out that they are bound to Hali- 
fax ; but I am of opinion, that New York is their place of destination. 
It is an object worthy of their attention, and it is the place that we 
must use every endeavor to keep from them. For should they get that 
town, and the command of North River they can stop the intercourse 
between northern and southern colonies, upon which depends the 
safety of America. 

" My feelings upon this subject are so strong, that I do not wish to 
give the enemy a chance of succeeding at your place. I shall there- 
fore, dispatch a regiment, and some independent companies of rifle- 
men this day ; and to-morrow, or as soon as it conveniently can be 
done, five more regiments will be sent out from this camp. I cannot 
part with more while the enemy remain in sight ; but I have written 
to Governor Trumbull to send you two thousand men as soon as he 
possibly can." 

The order of March 14th was countermanded as follows : 

"March 15, 1776 f 

" The Regiments, and Companies of Artillery, mentioned in yester- 
days oi'ders, are not to march, before Sun rise to-morrow morning, 
when everything, belonging to them, is to be ready to move off, the 
men are not to put their packs in the Carts, their provisions being 
Carry'd for them, the Genl expects every One, to carry his Own pack. 
Any Officer or Soldier who is known to Committ any waist, or destruc- 
tion to any of the Barracks, or bai'rack utensils, upon their Removing 
will be punished with the utmost severity, the Q. M. G. to order his 
Assistants to see every Article taken proper care of when troops 
March."' 

And were again countermanded the following day : 

"March 16, 1776 f 

" As the weather is so bad and the Roads so miry the Regts and 
Companies of Artillery Order'd to march this morning are to Halt 
until to-morrow morning." 

* " Washington's Writings," Sparks, vol. iii., p. 317. 
f Glover's Orderly Book, under dates. 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 75 

The fortifications of the Americans were now commanding: l'?'3'6 
the city, and the positions occupied by them made it ap- 
parent that Boston could no longer be held. Howe deter- 
mined to evacuate, but, as he threatened to burn the town if 
fired on, he was allowed to go unmolested. He left behind 
him more than two hundred cannon, ten times more powder 
than the army had ever seen before, and an immense number 
of muskets, and military stores of all sorts. The British 
evacuated Boston, March 17, 1776. The same day the defi- 
nite orders were given to march. 

" March 17, 1776.* 

" Parole, — ' Boston.' — Sign— 'St. Patrick's.' 

"The Regts under mai-ching orders to march to-morrow morning at 
sunrise." 

The regiments marched for New York on the 18th. They 
were stationed for a short time on Staten Island, for the de- 
fense of New York. 

Believed from the consideration of affairs in the East by 
the surrender of Boston, Washington turned his attention to 
New York and the Hudson Eiver. The regiments which 
had been sent from Boston to New York were always kept 
on the alert. 

" New York Head Quarters 
"2 April 1776 1 

"Stark's, Webb's, Greaton's, Paterson's & Bond's Regimts, will be 
under Arms this afternoon on the Common, except those on duty." 

On the fifth day of April, Georgia instructed her delegates 
in the Continental Congress to vote for independence, and on 
April 6th, Congress decided that the commerce of the thirteen 
colonies was not subject to the king. 

On April 5th Colonel Paterson was officer of the day. On 
April 7th the regiments were brigaded as follows : 

* Glover's Orderly Book, under date. 
I Glover's Orderly Book. 



76 



LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 



1776 " April 7, 1776.* 

"The Eegiments are to be brigaded in the following manner till 
further orders, 

Genl Thompson 
Hand 
Webb 
Talcott 
Ward 



Genl Heath 
Stark 
Paterson 
Greaton 
Bond 
Sullivan 
Doughty 



Ld Sterling 
McDougall 
Winds 
Ritzma 
Wayne 
Martin " 



On April 10th this arrangement was altered as follows : 

"April 10, 1776. f 
"The arrival of B. Genl Sullivan makes it necessary for a new ar- 
rangement of the Brigades, in the following manner, 

Genl Heath's Genl Sullivan's 

Col. Greaton Col. Reed 

Paterson Nixon 

Bond Stark 

Baldwin Poor 

Prescott. 



Genl Thompson's 
Col. Ward 
Webb 
Winds 
Wayne 



Lord Sterling's 
Col. McDougall 
Arnold 
Dayton 
Ritzema " 



On April 12th the order was again changed. 

" April 12, 1776. t 
"The following alterations to be made. Col. McDougall's Regts to 

join Genl Heath's, and Col Paterson's Regts Lord Sterling's. 

"All the Regts and Companies under the immediate Command of 

Lord Sterling, now in quarters in this City are to hold themselves in 

Readiness to March at an hour's Warning." 

On April 14th North Carolina instructed her delegates in 
the Continental Congress to vote for independence, and on 
May 1st Massachusetts expunged the name of the king from 
legal proceedings. 

* Glover's Orderlj^ Book, 
t Glover's Orderly Book. 
X Glover's Orderly Book. 



DEFENSES OF THE HUDSON. 77 

From very early times, the English considered the control l^TS 
of the Hudson River as essential to their possession of the 
country. It was a water-way between Canada on the north 
and the southern colonies by Lake Champlain, and with very 
little portage a complete one. It communicated with the 
chain of Great Lakes on the west by the Mohawk River with 
a very short interval of land carriage, and it thus gave easy 
access to a very large area of country. They considered the 
possession of the Hudson as absolutely necessary to their 
holding the colonies together as one country. 

The British had learned all these conditions in the long wars 
with France, which had only recently terminated. They 
knew that if they could only hold the Hudson River they 
could speedily put down the rebellion. They instructed the 
commanders in 1775 that they must get possession of both 
New York and Albany, garrison them both with a large 
force, gain possession of the North River and of the East 
River at New York, and so defend them that no navigation 
would be possible except for the king's forces. They ex- 
pected by this simple device to gain possession of Crown 
Point and Ticonderoga and to preserve a safe communication 
with Quebec, and keep the Canadians, who were the least 
disaffected of all the colonies, loyal, and with their aid and 
that of the Indians to so harass New Hampshire and Massa- 
chusetts and depopulate the country, that they would be glad 
to yield in a cause which must be made to seem to them 
hopeless. 

This knowledge was not, however, confined to the British. 
The colonists had done so much fighting in the French and 
Indian wars that they knew perfectly the value of the river. 
They also knew that communication between New York and 
Albany and between Albany and Quebec was a capital point 
with the British, and that they must, as they held the river, 
keep possession of it, as, if they lost it, there would not only 
be complete communication of the British with all the dis- 
affected, but also with the Indians, and thus enfeeble their 



78 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

mQ efforts for the common preservation and security. Nearly 
the whole of the Kevolutionary War was conducted on both 
sides with reference to retaining or regaining possession of 
the navigation of the Hudson. 

The British had full control of the sea, so that it was im- 
possible for the colonists to go from one colony to another by 
the ocean. Communication with each other, therefore, had to 
be by land. If the British held possession of the Hudson 
River, the colonies south of New York would be cut off 
from any communication with New England. The aggrieved 
people and the Revolationists were to a very great extent 
in New England and depended very largely on the sym- 
pathy of the otlier colonies with them in their efforts to 
obtain redress. The colonies south of New England had 
fewer grievances, though they knew that what was happening 
elsewhere might any day become real sources of oppression 
to them. The British knew that if they could control the navi- 
gation of the Hudson River, they could prevent not only the 
expression of sympathy, but the aid offered to the aggrieved, 
from reaching them, and that in this way they might crush 
out any advocacy of the rebellion which should show itself 
either north or south. As the British held all communica- 
tion by sea and were in possession of New York harbor, 
they thought that if they held the river they might compel 
submission, by making an approach on New England, New 
York, and the colonies south of it, from Canada. This 
they tried to do in 1776 and failed. After this, as they held 
New York, they thought that they could easily enter the 
river from the west, the north, and the south at the same 
time. It did not occur to them, that they might fail in the 
other parts of this enterprise, and from the sea as they had 
already done from the north. 

At the very outset of the struggle. Congress appomted a 
secret committee and made the defense of the Hudson River 
and the preparing of obstructions to its navigation one of 
their duties. The Provincial Congress of New York made 



ARRANGEMENT OF SIGNALS. 79 

an elaborate report on the whole subject to the Continental 
Congress as early as 1775. As the result the secret committee 
were authorized to commence immediately the erection of forts 
and the preparation of such obstructions as would prevent the 
British from navigating the river. It was undoubtedly owing 
to the fact that we kept possession of it, that we were success- 
ful, and the surrender of Burgoyne, which ended the last at- 
tempt of the British to cut the colonies in two by securing 
possession of the Hudson River, was probably owing to the 
precautions which had been taken to prevent the junction of 
Howe and Burgoyne. In order to do this, New York in any 
case must be held, and in order to hold New Yoi'k it was 
necessary to fortify Brooklyn Heights. The British had a 
fleet and 25,000 men, while the Americans had only 5000 in 
Brooklyn and 4000 more guarding its approaches. General 
Howe, the commander, attacked the Amei'icans, taking many 
prisoners, and finally captured New York, and tliere the 
British remained, unable to make any further headway. 

As it was necessary to have some means of communication 
with the different colonies, and especially along the Hudson 
River, in order to convey intelligence of the movements of 
the enemy, other than by the slow movements of the express 
riders, the Continental Congress, on the 7th of October, 1775, 
suggested to Lhe Provincial Congress of New York the ex- 
pediency of adopting by the colonies of New York, Con. 
necticut, and New Jersey, a series of signals to be used in 
cases of alarm of any kind, and especially to give notice of 
movements of the enemy. 

On October 17, 1775, New York adopted the plan of erect- 
ing beacons at convenient places and distances throughout 
the colony, to give alarm in case of invasion, or as a signal for 
the meeting of the minute-men, and resolved that when con- 
venient places for the erection of beacons could not be found, 
signals from cannon be used in place of the beacons, and that 
some fit person be employed to make proper arrangements 
for the purpose and to report to the Congress. For the pur- 



80 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1776 pose of carrying intelligence in case of invasion, it was recom- 
mended that the county committees engage some person who 
should live on or near the most public roads, to have a horse 
in readiness to convey intelligence, and that the stages to be 
fixed for each messenger should not be more than ten or fifteen 
miles. Copies of these resolutions, as also those of the Con- 
tinental Congress, were forwarded to the Assembly of Con- 
necticut and the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, with a 
letter requesting advice on the whole subject. A letter was 
sent at the same time to the colonels of militia and minute- 
men, stating that directions would be given for the erection 
of beacons and the placing of cannon, so that in case of alarm 
there could be no mistake as to the meaning of the signal. 
The plan met with acquiescence and was immediately carried 
into effect. 

In the spring of 1776, General Washington advised the 
Convention of New York to adopt a plan for conveying in- 
telligence of the approach of the enemy's fleet, and suggested 
that the Convention should employ the same in calling out 
the militia under its control. This was, that on the appear- 
ance of any number of ships from one to six, towards the 
port of New York by day, a large flag should be hoisted over 
the Highlands of Neversink ; if from six to twenty, two flags, 
and if any greater number, three flags ; the flag-staffs to be 
arranged from east to west and twenty yards apart. The 
signal might be given by an equal number of fires, arranged 
in the same manner. These signals were to be repeated, both 
day and night, on the heights of Staten Island. A good look- 
out was always to be kept, and in addition to this an express 
was to be sent to the commander-in-chief. They prepared 
for the day signals, large ensigns with broad stripes of red 
and white. On the appearance of these signals, the country 
was to take alarm and communicate it as quickly as possible 
to other stations. 

In 1777 Lord Sterling, commanding at Albany, ordered 
the erection of beacons at alarm points in accordance with this 



FORTS ON THE HUDSON RIVER. 81 

plan. They were erected on the hills from the frontier posts I'^G 
in Westchester to Beacon Hill below Fishkill, and from there 
east into Connecticut and south and west through New York 
to Morristown, Pluckemin, and Millbrook, and to the Never- 
sink Hills at Sandy Hook. They consisted of flags and can- 
non by day and fires and alarm cannon by night, and were 
so arranged as to distinguish the point where attack was ex- 
pected. The beacons were fourteen feet square at the base, 
eighteen to twenty feet high, and six feet square at the top. 
They were constructed of logs, with a sapling in the center, 
with the branches still on, whose top was thirty feet from the 
ground. A pyramid of logs was thus formed. The first 
signal given was to be answered by the others and action was • 
to be taken at once. Copies of any orders issued on account 
of any such signals were to be sent to all the command- 
ing officers in the vicinity. They were probably first used 
when the English moved on Forts Clinton and Montgomery. 
In 1779 General McDougall ordered them discontinued, 
and guns and express riders only used. He ordered that 
three cannon be fired for five top-sail vessels every five min- 
utes ; for ten vessels four, or for a greater number than ten, 
one for every five ; these signals to be repeated as well as re- 
ported. When there was a likelihood of the signal not being 
heard at the next station, riders were to be sent. 

The British plan for 1776 was, for General Carlton to come 
down from Canada, recapture Ticonderoga, and take posses- 
sion of the Mohawk, and for General Howe to capture and hold 
New York, and by controlling the great water-line to effect- 
ually cut the county in two. Washington saw this danger, 
and in order to prevent the British from carrying out their de- 
signs, nine forts were erected on different sides of the river 
to prevent them from passing up the stream from New York. 
These were Fort Washington (Map No. 7) near Bloomingdale, 
and Fort Lee on the Palisades on the opposite side of the 
river ; Fort Lafayette, opposite Stony Point on the east side ; 
Fort Independence, above Peekskill ; Fort Constitution, oppo- 



82 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENEKAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1776 site to West Point on the west side ; Forts Clinton and Mont- 
gomery, opposite to Anthony's Nose ; and Forts Putnam and 
Clinton, below and above West Point. Besides these, ob- 
structions were placed in the channel of the river at different 
places and at different times, as it seemed necessary. To 
prevent the invasion from the north, he determined to rein- 
force Ticonderoga, and to obstruct the navigation of the 
Hudson to protect the Highlands from danger. 

There were four principal points at which at different times 
it was thought to be absolutely necessar}^ to obstruct the 
navigation of the river. The first Avas at Fort Washington, 
the second at Fort Montgomery, the third at Pollopel's Island, 
just below Fishkill, and the last at West Point. A not very 
successful attempt was made in 1776 to vise fire-ships and 
rafts to destroy the British fleet, and after this a cheveaux de 
/rise was constructed between Fort Lee and Fort Washing- 
ton. As it was found that the depth of water there did not 
exceed forty feet, and the width was but 1800 yards, it was 
thought that by placing either a cheveaux de frise or sunken 
vessels in the channel at a point so far to the south, the Eng- 
lish men-of-war could be kept out of the Highlands altogether. 
It was also proposed to use fire-ships with them. As the opera- 
tions were slow, it was proposed to use with them ships that 
were sunk. The cheveaux de frise was made by sinking two 
ships with their sterns towards each other about seventy feet 
apart. To each of these three large logs, which reached from 
stern to stern, were fastened. This stopped the river for 280 
feet. When the ships were sunk, pikes, consisting of large 
logs pointed with iron, were fastened to them and raised so as 
to make a complete obstruction to the whole channel. 

Almost the first act of Washington on his arrival in New 
York, on Api-il 13, 1776, was to send four battalions to the 
relief of the army in Canada, under the command of Briga- 
dier-General Thompson, and among these was Colonel Pater- 
son's regiment. They were some of the strongest regiments 
in the army. The order for their transportation is as follows : 



DEPARTURE FOR NEW YORK. 83 

" New York Head Quarters 15 April, 1776 * 1776 

" The Qu. M. Geni is immediately to provide Transports to convey 
the Regimts to Albany. 

" Poors' & Paterson's, Greaton's & Bond's Regts are to hold them- 
selves in readiness to embark at an hours Warning, — they are to take 
with them their Camp Equipage, which the Qu. M. Geni will furnish, 
taking a Rec't of each Regt. for the Tents, & supply each Regt." 

In order to prepare for the moving of the regiments the 
following orders were issued : 

"15 April 1776 1 

"The officers & soldiers of Poor's, Paterson's, Greatons & Bonds 
Regts to be immediately taken off duty." 

"April 16, 1776 1: 

" After this hour, it is strictly enjoined upon the officers to see that 
their Rolls are call'd, and their Men in Quarters. Geni Thompson will 
hasten the embarkation of the Regts for Albany, as fast as possible, 
and is to fix with the Muster Mr General Mr. Moyland upon a time and 
place for Mustering of them. 

"These Regiments may be embarked and sent off at one time or 
otherwise as it can be done quickest. The General is to set out with 
the last. The Colonels to prepare their Muster Rolls immediately." 

In order to render the march less fatiguing, they sailed 
from New York on April 21st, and went up the Hudson to 
Albany, to be under General Gates, On the 23d Washing- 
ton announced the departure of these troops, with great 
pride, to the Continental Congress : 

" I have now the pleasure to acquaint you, that the four regiments 
designed for Canada embarked yesterday with a fair wind for Albany, 
under the Command of Colonels Greaton, Paterson, Bond, and Poor; 
besides which there was a company of riflemen, a company of artifi- 
cers, and two engineers, the whole commanded by Brigadier General 
Thompson." § 

* Glover's Orderly Book, 
f Glover's Orderly Book. 
J Glover's Orderly Book. 

§ Gen. Washington to President of Congress ; dated New York, 
April 22, 1776. " Washington's Writings," Sparks, vol. iii., p. 365, 



84 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1776 On May 4th they were at Fort George and ten days later 
reported at St. John on the Sorrel River. 

Colonel Paterson's regiment then had six hundred men in 
fine condition and well equipped, but before it arrived in 
Canada General Montgomery had fallen, and Arnold, 
wounded, had retreated to Montreal. They were too late to 
participate in any action or share any glory which might 
have been won if they had arrived sooner, but were in plenty 
of time to share the sufferings of the rest of the troops. 
Early in May they were in Montreal, where they suffered 
severely from the small-pox, which made such ravages that 
on the 7th of May the whole regiment was ordered to be vac- 
cinated. 

Putnam, in a letter to Washington, dated at headquar- 
ters, New York, May 27th, says that the night before an 
express had arrived from Canada, bringing a letter from 
General Thompson, at Chambly, of the date of May 14th, 
and mentions " that Col. Greaton's, and part of Col. Bond's 
regiments, had gone forward. Colonel Paterson was at 
Montreal, and Col. Poor at Ticonderoga, waiting for pro- 
visions." 

On May 15th Virginia instructed her delegates to vote for 
the declaration that the United Colonies were " free and in- 
dependent States." On June 7th resolutions that "these 
United Colonies are, of right, and ought to be, free and inde- 
pendent States," were introduced in Congress. On June 
14th Connecticut instructed her delegates to vote for inde- 
pendence. On June 16th the British retook Crown Point. 
On July 2d Congress declared by vote, "the Independence 
of these Colonies," and on July 4, 1776, the first public 
announcement of independence was made. On July 15th 
Delaware voted for independence. 

While most of these occurrences were favorable to the cause 
of the colonies, the condition of our armies in the north was 
most pitiable. On the following page are given the hospital 
returns of Colonel Paterson's regiment for July. 



SUFFERINGS FROM SMALL-POX. 



85 



July, 1776. 1776 

Return of the sick of the General Hospital at Fort George, from 
the 13th to the 26th July, 1776, inclusive * : 







•o 






tsii 






(B 




■a 






^ 


be 




a 




Regiments. 


1 
< 


53 
.a 
o 
m 

5 


•a 
Q 




■3 

s 


Colonel Paterson's 


73 


26 


8 




39 







On June 24, 1776, General Sullivan wrote to Washington, 
from Isle-aux-Noix, as follows : 

* ' The raging of the small-pox deprives us of whole regiments in the 
course of a few days by their being taken down with that cruel disor- 
der. But this is not all. The camp disorder rages to such a degree 
that of the remaining regiments from fifty to sixty in each are taken 
down in a day, and we have nothing to give them but salt pork, flour, 
and the poisonous waters of this Lake. ... I enclose your Excel- 
lency a general return drawn from the returns made day before yes- 
terday ; since which I suppose a quarter part have been taken down 
with the Camp disorder. . . . There is no return of Col. Paterson's 
Regiment, as he has but five men here fit for duty, which I this day 
ordered to Crown Point to join the rest of the Regiment which are all 
sick there." 

John Adams visited the camp, and wrote as follows under 
date of July 7, 1776 : 

" Our army at Crown Point is an object of wretchedness enough to 
fill a humane mind with horror; disgraced, defeated, discontented, 
dispirited, diseased, naked, undisciplined, eaten up with vermin, no 
clothes, beds, blankets, no medicines, no victuals but salt pork and 
flour. ... I hope that measures will be taken to cleanse the army at 
Crown Point from the small-pox, and that other measures will be 
taken in New England, by tolerating and encouraging inoculation, to 
render the disease less terrible." 

The process of inoculation, which had been introduced 
from Turkey by Lady Mary Wortley Montague, consisted of 
infecting the patient with the genuine small-pox virus after 

* " Notes on the History of Fort George." By B. F. De Costa. 



86 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

re his system had been prepared for it, and by a specific treat- 
ment afterward. Of coarse there was a very small percentage 
of deaths under the treatment, which needed the most assidu- 
ous and skillful medical attendance; but in the way small- 
pox then ravaged the country at frequent intervals it was 
more safe to risk the disease in this form than when encoun- 
tered naturally without preparation. But ordinary men fear 
more an immediate certain danger than that which is distant 
and uncertain, although in reality more terrible. Thus in 
Berkshire, while Dr. Timothy Childs, of Pittsfield, surgeon 
of General Paterson's first regiment, had urgently advised in- 
oculation, the popular prejudice against it was so great that 
it was only possible by great efiiort sometimes to get the per- 
mission of a Berkshire town to permit the establishment of a 
small-pox hospital for inoculation. Many of the better in- 
formed people of the country protected themselves by this 
process in a hospital at Sheffield, and Colonel Paterson was 
probably among them, as he did not suffer from the disease, 
to which he was greatly exposed. In a letter written by 
General Arnold to the Commissioners in Canada, dated Sorel, 
May 7, 1776, he says : " I think it advisable to inoculate 
Colonel Paterson's regiment at Montreal, Colonel Bedel's at 
the Cedars, and the troops posted at La Prairie and Longuiel 
at Sorel ; and to send all the troops at Montreal who have 
had the small-pox to Sorel; and to send 500 or 600 from 
Sorel to Montreal, because of the difliculty of providing 
quarters for so many at Sorel." By this time they knew 
that the Canada expedition was hopeless, for on May 6th the 
British fleet appeared in the St. Lawrence, reinforcements to 
the extent of 13,000 men under Burgoyne had arrived, and 
retreat was inevitable. 

On its arrival in Canada, the brigade, which was com- 
manded by General William Thompson, of Pennsylvania, 
was scattered at different points. Colonel Paterson, with his 
regiment, was ordered to take post and command at Montreal. 
On May 14th they were still in Montreal, waiting for pro- 



Map No. 3. 




SKIRMISH 

THE cedars; 

Prepared [or 
"ft)i liife o[ Maj G?o Patersop 



SKIRMISH OF ''the CEDARS." 87 

visions ; on June 8tli Colonel Paterson was at Sorel and had l^^S 
only six men fit for duty ; all the rest were in the hospital 
sick from inoculation. Towards the last of the month our 
forces met with a severe reverse in the engagement known 
as the skirmish of " the Cedars," in which a portion of Colonel 
Paterson's regiment was engaged, and in which the British 
employed Indians, who butchered in cold blood ; the regi- 
ment, although showing prodigies of valor, lost heavily in 
killed and wounded, and sixty-seven were taken prisoners. 

A detachment of Americans, under Major Butterfield, of 
New Hampshire, was attacked by British and Indians at 
Cedar Rapids, some distance west of Montreal. The Major 
surrendered without resistance, his superior officer, Colonel 
Bedell, having returned to Montreal. When Colonel Paterson 
heard that the post at Cedar Rapids was in danger, he imme- 
diately despatched about one hundred and fifty men of his 
own regiment, under his Major, Henry Sherburne, to reinforce 
Major Butterfield. He arrived too late, however, and instead 
of affording relief, was himself attacked by the enemy. 
Sherburne defended himself with great bravery, but was 
ambushed, and his party taken prisoners. 

Colonel Paterson immediately reported the situation to 
General Arnold at Sorel, who vigorously attempted to rescue 
the prisoners, but without success. 

The following reference to the affair appears in a letter 
from Captain Charles Cushing, of Colonel Greaton's Massa- 
chusett's regiment, dated Camp at Crown Point, July 8, 1776: 

* " We had been at Sorel [see Map No. 31 but ten days, when our regi- 
ment was ordered up to Montreal, forty-five miles above, on the 
St. Lawrence. Colonel Paterson's regiment, which arrived at St. 
John's in two days after ours, was directly ordered from there to Mon- 
treal by land, about twenty-five miles across ; and soon after, Major 
Sherburne [of Colonel Paterson's], with one hundred and twenty men, 
was detaclied to Cedars to the assistance of Colonel Bedel's party 
[under Major Butterfield], and another party was left as a guard to La 
Prairie. Colonel Paterson's regiment was now so reduced by detach- 

*From Force's Archives, fifth series, vol. v., p. 129. 



88 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1776 ments that it was expected the inhabitants of Montreal would rise, as 
it was easily perceived they were making preparations. Our regi- 
ment was now under the necessity of getting there as fast as possible. 
. . . As soon as they came into the city, they were so fatigued as 
to lie immediately down under the walls to sleep, and some lay there 
until morning, it being impossible to move them. But happily that 
they arrived as they did, for that night was appointed for the Tories 
to take possession of the place." . . . 

In June they retreated by way of Crown Point and Ticon- 
deroga. On June 28th the battle at Fort Moultrie, S. C, 
saved that State from any further depredations for two years, 
but it helped the other colonies but little. 

On July 20th, Colonel Paterson was at Fort Stanwex, and 
was president of a court-martial. On August 11th the coun- 
tersign was "Philadelphia." and the parole "Dickerson." 
" The guard was relieved by the Fourth Brigade. Col. 
Wingate's and Col. Wyman's regiments, of the New 
Hampshire militia, are to be considered as part of Col. 
Stark's Brigade and to obey his orders. Col. Paterson is to 
take command of the Second Brigade during the absence of 
Col. Reed."* 

On August 27th, occurred the famous battle of Long Island, 
which, though a defeat, Washington turned to such account 
as to make him able to win the glorious victories of Trenton 
and Princeton, His famous retreat from Long Island, as 
also his crossing the Delaware only a few months afterwards, 
was made possible by the splendid behavior of the Marble- 
head fishermen of Colonel Glover's Essex County regiment, 
who had enlisted on the alarm from Lexington, and fought 
through the war. 

On the 20th of September, 1776, anticipating an attack 
from the English war-vessels, Washington sent a request to 
the Convention that they would send fire-ships to Fort Wash- 
ington, which were to be used in case the British attempted 
to ascend the river. The fire-ships were prepared but were 
not used. On September 23, 1776, the secret committee 
♦American Archives, p. 1125. 



OBSTRUCTIONS AT FORT WASHINGTON. 89 

were empowered to impress and pay for six vessels to com- l~'76 
plete the obstructions at Fort Washington and to prepare 
fire-ships and rafts to oppose the passage of the British up 
tlie river. The resolution ordered that the vessels should be 
impressed, but also ordered that a just and equitable price 
should be paid for them. Notwithstanding these precautions, 
however, the obstruction was very imperfect. The fact that 
only two of the ships had been sunk and that the rest of the 
obstruction had been prepared with great haste, made it of 
little value, for on the 9th of October two British vessels 
passed up the river as if there had been no obstacle there, 
for the vessels not only received no damage but did not even 
fire a gun. As the vessels contained troops, it was expected 
that they would make an attempt to land, so that the militia- 
men were ordered out to protect the shores. Fortunately, 
the vessels went only a short distance up the river, and the an- 
ticipations of a severe contest were not fulfilled. As soon as 
the vessels had returned to their original position, the efforts 
to complete the fortifications and obstructions at Fort Mont- 
gomery were redoubled. Four of the six vessels which had 
been seized for the obstruction of the river below were not used. 
Immediately after the news of the passage of the vessels up the 
river was received, the Continental Congress passed an order, 
directing General Washington " by every effort and at whatever 
expense to obstruct effectually the navigation of North Kiver 
between Fort Washington and Fort Constitution, as well as 
to prevent the regress of the enemy's frigates, lately gone up, 
as to hinder them from receiving succor." But the capture 
of Fort Washington and the evacuation of Fort Lee occurred 
so soon after that no attempt was made to carry out this 
order. Fort Washington was captured by the British on the 
16th of November, 1776. The loss of the Americans in 
these encounters was not more than one hundred. The Brit- 
ish lost nearly a thousand men. They proceeded at once to 
remove the obstructions and demolish Fort Lee on the oppo- 
site side of the river. In order to prevent them from coming 



90 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1776 any higher from the south, in July, 1776, obstructions were 
placed at Fort Montgomery, and in 1777 and 1778 at Pollopel's 
Island to oppose their approach from the north, if they should 
gain control of the northern part of the river. 

Three things contribiited to this disaster, — first, the med- 
dling of Congress with Washington's plans ; second, the want 
of comprehension of the situation by Green, for he reinforced 
the fort, owing to the resolution of Congress, when the case 
'was hopeless; and third, the insubordination of Lee, who was 
already commencing to execute his traitorous designs, which 
culminated in the battle of Monmouth. The fall of the fort 
and the capture of its garrison was one of the most crushing 
blows of the whole Kevolution, and came very near wrecking 
the whole cause of American independence, but the great 
wisdom of Washington was equal to the emergency. 

In a letter of General Gates to the President of Congress, 
dated at Ticonderoga, September 80, 1776, he says : " I must 
also do justice to the merit and long services of Col. Philip 
De Haas by recommending him to Congress as deserving pro- 
motion. Col. Enoch Poor, of New Hampshire, and Col. John 
Paterson, of Massachusetts, are also deserving officers, worthy 
the notice of Congress." * Colonel Paterson's name here, 
contrary to the general rule, is spelled correctly with one t. 

Up to about this time aU that had been done was in the 
hope of getting redress. The king had, however, refused to 
receive the delegation sent to him, either as representatives 
of the colonies or as individuals, and had besides hu-ed Ger- 
man soldiers to subdue them ; and this last act was what made 
the immediate declaration of independence possible. The idea 
of separation, even after the wanton bm-ning of Portland on 
October 16, 1775, found few supporters ; but when the news 
of the hiring of 20,000 Hessians came, every one was ready for 
it. This act of sending mercenaries against them seems to have 
operated more powerfully than any other single thing on the 
minds of the people, and made them more determined than 

* American Archives, fifth series, vol. ii., p. 615. 



FORMATION OF INDEPENDENT GOVERNMENTS. 91 

ever to resist. As if to complete the dissatisfaction already 1- 
existing, Parliament also proposed an act closing all Ameri- 
can ports and authorizing the confiscation not only of all 
American ships and cargoes, but those of any neutral nation 
which should dare to trade with them as well. It directed 
the commanders of all British vessels to impress all seamen on 
American ships. In March Congress retaliated by opening 
the ports of the colonies to all nations, authorized the issuing" 
of letters of marque, and ordered all Tories who refused to 
contribute to the common defense to be disarmed. This was 
virtually, but not actually, a declaration of war, but CongTess 
waited before declai-ing it for instructions from the colonies. 
The fli'st step was taken by North Carolina on February 27, 
1776, where the victory of Moore's Creek had the same effect 
as the battle of Lexington in Massachusetts. Within ten 
days an army of ten thousand militia was raised. They or- 
ganized a Provincial Congress, and instructed the delegates 
in the Continental Congress to act with the other colonies, 
and so all the colonies came into line in a common cause 
against a common enemy. On the 15th of May Congress 
recommended all the colonies to form an independent govern- 
ment and to choose their own ; and they acted very promptly^ 
and in less than six weeks the governments were formed, 
delegates to the Continental Congress appointed, and in- 
structed to vote for independence. These governments sol- 
emnly promulgated the Declaration of Independence, and then, 
amid the huzzas of the crowds who assembled to hear it, 
solemnly removed the insignia of royalty from all the places 
where the king's authority had been previously recognized, and 
biu'ned them in the public streets amid the acclamations of 
the citizens. New York was the last to accept the Declaration 
of Independence. That State, however, adopted it on July 
9th, and celebrated the occasion by melting dowTi the leaden 
statue of King George III. on the Bowhng Green in New York 
City and casting it into 42,500 bullets. On the same day- 
Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence to be 
read at the head of each brio-ad e. The Declaration of Inde- 



92 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1776 penclence was made only after eleven years of constant and 
unprovoked irritation. So extreme had been the forbearance 
and determination to bear and suffer so long as there was any 
hope of redress, that it was interpreted as a sign of weakness. 
The Eevolution was declared to be the intrigue of a few instead 
of the determination of a free people to be and to remain free. 
Years before they had wi-itten to Parliament : " We rode out 
the dangers of the seas ; shall we perish in port ? " Parlia- 
ment never answered the question, and now they answered it 
themselves by the Declaration of Independence. It was a dec- 
laration that the people were unanimous in the determination 
that G-reat Britain should abandon her pretended right to im- 
pose taxes and revoke charters, and never in the darkest days 
of the Revolution did one of the States propose to reconsider 
theii" action. Washington, on taking command of the army 
on July 3, 1775, had raised a flag with thirteen stripes, repre- 
senting the thirteen colonies, but it retained the cross of St. 
George. Wlien on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independ- 
ence was received with every sign of joyful approval, as if it 
had been a decree promulgated from heaven, this cross was 
replaced by thirteen stars. 

Ticonderoga and Crown Point had surrendered to us on 
May 11, 1775. It was the strategic center of the whole north 
country, commanding as it does the approaches to the Hudson 
River. On that day the Continental Congress assembled at 
Philadelphia, and two or three days later St. John's also sur- 
rendered to our forces, but after a siege of fifty days sm-ren- 
dered again to the British on November 3d. These victories 
gave the army great quantities of military stores, guns, and 
cannon. In their retreat from Canada by way of Crown 
Point under the command of General Gates, Colonel Pater- 
son's regiment, which was in the 3d Brigade, occupied and 
strongly fortified Mount Independence,* on the other side of 
the bay and opposite to Ticonderoga, and remained there dur- 
ing the summer. On August 24th Colonel Paterson was put 
in the 2d Brigade. On September 22d he was ordered to 
Fort George. On October 16th he commenced to build bar- 

* Map No. 4. 



Map No. 4. 




ENGLISH PLAN FOR 1776. 93 

racks at Fort George and at Stillwater. When Crown Point I't 
was taken and abandoned by the enemy, Colonel Paterson, who 
had on September 30th been recommended to Congress for 
promotion, was already doing the duty of a general. On Octo- 
ber 16th the army was preparing to build barracks at Fort 
George and Stillwater. On October 26th all the brigades were 
ordered to go to him for orders in case of any general alarm. 
The bridge which connected the fort with the mainland was 
broken away by heavy storms of wind and rain ; but after- 
ward, the cold being very gi'eat, the lake froze, and the com- 
munication was made over the ice. On November 17th the 
regiment was stiU at Mount Independence, and contained 331 
men fit for duty. The British plan of campaign for the year 
1776, was that General Carlton should come down from Can- 
ada through Lake Champlain, retake all the towns captured 
the previous year, gain possession of the Hudson River, and 
occupy Albany. General Sir William Howe was to capture 
New York and reinforce him from the south, and thus, with 
full possession of the Hudson, cut the colonies in two and put 
an end to the rebellion. Both parts of this plan were being 
carried out. Sir William Howe captured New York City in 
August. General Carlton had met with every success. Ar- 
nold's brilliant achievements on Lake Champlain delayed 
Carlton so much that, fearing being caught by the ice, he sud- 
denly abandoned his part of it and went into winter quarters, 
thus enabling Schuyler to send reinforcements to Washing- 
ton, who was retreating through New Jersey. Among others 
was Colonel Paterson's regiment, so that the brilliant battles 
of Trenton and Princeton added great courage to our despond- 
ent forces. On November 18th, with parole " The Con- 
gress " and countersign " Independence," they were ordered to 
embark at Lake George as soon as boats could be provided 
for them. On the 19th Colonel Paterson sent all the baggage 
of his regiment to Lake George landing. As there were only 
boats enough to embark his regiment, he started, while the other 
regiments awaited the arrival of fresh boats. A few days later 



94 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1776 tliey left there and came down with Gates and his command 
to Saratoga. On November 24th General Gates put his corps 
under orders for Albany. The regiments with him, of which 
Colonel Paterson's was one, did not average more than three 
hundred men fit for duty, so great had been the ravages of dis- 
ease among them. On November 19th Colonel Paterson had re- 
ported 331 men fit for duty iu his regiment. They were enlisted 
only until the end of the year. He was short of provisions, and 
was fearful for the safety of Washington. On November 26th 
he left Saratoga for Albany, where he received orders to re- 
inforce General Washington. They left Albany December 3d. 
They were to have gone direct to New Windsor by water, but 
as vessels enough for that purpose could not be procured, they 
went to Esopus by sloop ; from there they marched to New 
Windsor. On December 8th they were at PeekskiU. From 
there they went to Goshen, expecting to rendezvous at Sussex 
Court-house on December 14th. They passed through the Min- 
nisink country ; then through Sussex County. On December 
20, 1776, they halted at Morristown, and then, crossing the 
river at Easton, joined Washington's army, which was retreat- 
ing through New Jersey, at Newton, Penn., on the west bank 
of the Delaware. Colonel Paterson reported with 220 out of 
the 600 men in the weU-appoiuted regiment with which he 
left New York on April 21st for the northern campaign. The 
others had been killed in the various encounters, been toma- 
hawked by savages, taken prisoners by the enemy, or had died 
from want of proper care, from the ravages of smaU-pox, or 
from exposure. Most of them had no tents and had left their 
homes without any other covering than then- ordinary clothing. 
It needed the conviction that they were fighting for a great 
principle to keep any of them alive. There were many widows 
whose husbands had enhsted in that regiment, hoping for a 
short, decisive, but victorious war, and expecting to return to 
then- farms when the war was over, but who never reached 
even Newton ; and many were the women left with a family 
of small children w' ho cleared their farms, and, suffering all the 
privations of early settlers, brought up their families, giving 



WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION. 95 

them good educations and making them loving and dutiful 1"76 
children and loyal and useful citizens. Little do the men of 
this generation know what it cost the wives, mothers, and 
daughters of that generation. They do not get the praise, 
but they are entitled to it, for they gave the education in 
great principles and the encouragement to act as brave men 
which made heroes out of their husbands, sons, and brothers ; 
while their names are lost, the great principles which they 
sowed have taken root all over the world. There is no honor 
too great to be shown to those wives, mothers, daughters, and 
sisters. Yet how little we hear of the women of the Ameri- 
can Revolution. The influence which the women of that time 
had upon pohtical events cannot be overestimated. The pri- 
vations and dangers and sufferings came to them in a much 
more xivid way than they came to the soldiers, for they at least 
had the solace of excitement, while the women had no such 
stimulus to aid them. But they were as patriotic as the men. 
The mothers urged their sons, the wives their husbands, and 
the daughters their brothers, to join in this great movement for 
a free government, in the full realization that, whatever tliey 
might suffer, their descendants would reap the benefits, which 
could not be estimated. 



96 



LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 



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CHAPTER IV. 

FROM TRENTON TO VALLEY FORGE. 

Those December Days of 1776 were days of great discour- 1776 
agement. Fort Washington had been taken by the British on 
November 16th. It was one of the worst blows of the whole 
war. In full retreat, General Lee, who was then considered 
the best officer of the army, was a prisoner. The army had 
been defeated in the northern campaign. Canada had been 
abandoned. Many of the men had lost heart ; they were dis- 
couraged and homesick. The terms of enlistment of most of 
the men were expiring, so that in about ten days Washington 
would have only 1400 men, miserably provided for, and many 
of them were unwilling to re-enlist. The war had opened two 
years before with the enthusiasm which can only be generated 
by the conviction that there are gi'eat WTongs to be redressed, 
or gi'eat rights to be asserted. Money was raised without 
trouble, men enlisted of their own accord, were urged to en- 
list by their wives, daughters, or sweethearts, or were com- 
pelled to enlist by public sentiment. The war was to be short ; 
patriotism and self-sacrifice were to be triumphant ; the coun- 
try was to emerge soon from a great struggle, and to become 
at once prosperous. This was the ideal; but when, after 
months of toil, sacrifice, and suffering, it was plain that the 
war was to continue for no one could teU how long, it became 
difficult to procure men. Values, which are so sensitive in 
the face of uncertainties, feU ; prices rose. The contractor 
grew rich, the patriot became poor. Those who had been car- 
ried away by the enthusiasm of the moment, or who had been 

97 



98 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1776 forced to be patriotic from fear of public opinion, gi*ew tired 
of the war. It was ah-eady a failure, they said, and " the peace 
at any price " party began to be powerful. This was the hour 
of trial, and the real patriots, such as Washington, General 
Paterson, and thousands of others, became stronger in their 
devotion to their country than ever before. General Lee began 
to conspire, and the arguments and trials which make traitors 
like Arnold and Lee were in full force. Under these very dis- 
couraging cu'cum stances Washington determined on a most 
brilliant project, which saved the army and that campaign. The 
British were in v\dnter quarters, comfortably settled, and could 
not be easily called together on any sudden alarm. The Hes- 
sians were on the east bank of the Delaware. Lord Cornwallis, 
sure that " there was no spirit left in the rebel army," had asked 
leave of absence, to return to England. Washington had be- 
tween 5000 and 6000 men fit for service, and with these he pro- 
posed to cross the river at different points and attack the Hes- 
sians. He seized all the boats he could use for many miles up 
and down the river, and those he could not use he destroyed, 
and made the crossing on Christmas Eve in a heavy storm. 
Paterson's regiment crossed the river with 170 men present 
for duty. It was in St. Clair's brigade, which was the re- 
serve on the river road, and in Sidlivan's command. Wash- 
ington had selected his best officers to go with him, and 
with only 2400 men in his whole command, many of whom 
failed to join him on account of the cold and the wind, in a 
storm of hail and snow, on Christmas Day, routed the British 
forces completely. He gave his soldiers the countersign *' Vic- 
tory or Death." He took nearly 1000 prisoners and 32 officers. 
He went back after the battle to the west side of the river. 
The Hessians, who were hated in New Jersey on account of the 
outrages they had committed there, were sent at once to Penn- 
sylvania. The others were guarded and kindly treated. On 
the 29th the troops recrossed the river to the east side. 
Owing to the ice in the river, the crossing occupied two days. 
They were at the end of the year. The time of enlistment of 
the best troops was up. In the face of the enemy, in ini- 



BATTLE OF PRINCETON. 99 

minent danger, they were persuaded to re-enlist. The days 1777 
that were lost in the crossing and recrossing of the Delaware 
had given the enemy time to collect their forces. Lord Corn- 
wallis was advancing on Trenton with 7000 or 8000 men. 
Washington could not retreat without destroying all hope of 
future success. He could only collect 3600 men. He stationed 
himself on the east side of the Assanpink Eiver at a small stone 
bridge. See Map No. 5. Lord CornwaUis advanced to this 
point, but was so harassed and delayed by the condition of the 
roads that he did not reach it until nearly sunset of January 
2, 1777. He at once commenced a brisk fii-e over the river, 
which he kept up until dark, but was repeatedly repulsed in 
his attempts to cross, and when night came both pai'ties 
rested, waiting for the decisive action of the next day. Our 
forces were in a desperate state. There was only a smaU 
stream, which was easily fordable in several places, between 
them and a much suj)erior force. To risk a general action 
was to insure defeat. Retreat over the Delaware was impos- 
sible on account of the ice. There was no way but to go 
forward. The weather in the morning had been so mild that 
a thaw had set in, but toward night it froze hard. Keeping 
up all the appearances of fortifying the camp within sight of 
the British with much noisy demonstration on theii* river- 
front, the army was moved, in the middle of the night, toward 
Princeton. The 17th, 40th, and 55th British regiments were 
stationed at Princeton. See Map No. 6. During the day 
Cornwalhs sent for the 17th and 55th regiments to reinforce 
his troops. The 17th had left Princeton for that purpose, and 
the 55th was preparing to leave when they were attacked by 
our troops. Generals Sterling and St. Clair, and Colonels Poor, 
Paterson, and Reed, advanced on the 55th (British) regiment, 
which could only retreat toward Trenton. Being closely 
pressed by oui- forces, the 55th occupied a position on the 
high sloping ground immediately south of Nassau Hall, of 
the College of New Jersey, where a ravine separated them 
from the Americans. The latter gained the main street in 
front of the college, the doors of the building were forced, 



100 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 and the 55th and 40th (British) regiments attempted to escape 
to New Brunswick, from which place Cornwallis's movement 
against Trenton had been made, but after a very short but 
severe engagement were captured. 

In this fight of January 3d, known as the battle of Prince- 
ton, Colonel Paterson and his regiment acted with distin- 
guished bravery. Lord Cornwallis felt so sure of an easy vic- 
tory in the morning that he rested on the east bank of the 
river, and had gone to sleep on the evening of January 2d in 
perfect secui'ity, certain that early on the following day he 
would capture the whole of the American army and have the 
glory of having completely crushed the rebeUion. On the 
morning of January 3d he found the army gone, and by noon 
of that day he was in the greatest anxiety for fear that all of 
his stores at Brunswick were in great danger and perhaps cap- 
tured, and he retreated in hot haste, without even an engage- 
ment, to find his supplies were safe, but his prestige gone. 
The British were completely routed, and lost over 100 men in 
killed and wounded, and 230 were taken prisoners, including 
1-1 officers. The American loss was very much smaller. 

Of these famous battles Colonel Paterson's chaplain says : 

•' More than a thousand Hessians readily fell into our hands at Tren- 
ton. The tidings flew upon the wings of the wind and at once revived 
the hopes of the fearful, which had almost fled ! How sudden the 
transition from darkness to light ; from grief to joy ! Jehovah Jireh : 
in the mount, the Lord will be seen ! Record it, O my countrymen ! 
and trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting 
strength ! A general panic immediately ran through all the hosts of 
our enemies, and they who a few hours before were triumphing in their 
inglorious deeds, spreading distress and terror all around, now fled by 
thousands from the river in wild, frantic disorder, like so many mur- 
derers before the avenger of blood. What a reverse of fortune ! how 
wounding to tyrannic pride I Surely salvation did God appoint for 
walls and bulwarks ! " * 

* Extract from a thanksgiving sermon preached in December, 1777, 
by Rev. David Avery, chaplain to Colonel Paterson, on the anniversary 
of the battle of Trenton, in which they were both engaged. 



Map No. 6. 




CREATION OF A REGULAR ARMY. 101 

That was a memorable week. In eight days two famous vie- 1777 
tories were gained over a larger force by superior generalship. 
These battles of Trenton and Princeton prevented Lord Corn- 
wallis from going in person to England "to inform the king 
and assure the government that the colonies were substan- 
tially subdued and the rebellion suppressed." How badly 
he was mistaken he afterward found out to his cost, for on 
the 19th of October, 1781, he sui'reudered his own sword to 
Washington. 

On the 22d Major Vose was appointed to the command of 
his regiment as colonel, but travel was slow in those days, 
and orders were still issued to John Paterson as colonel. 

" State of Massachusetts Bay, 

"Council Chamber, March 1, 1777. 
" Ordered that the Commissary General be and he hereby is directed 
to deliver Major Vose for the Use of the Men inlisted in the Regiment 
whereof Jhn Paterson is Colo thirty Seven Fire Arms & accoutrements 
Said Vose giving a Keceipt for the same and to be accountable for said 
Arms with their Accoutrements at the Rate of four Pomids ten Shillings 

for each Ai-m. 

" Jno Avery Dpy Secy " * 

Up to this time there had been no attempt on the part of 
Congress to create a regular army. There had always been 
in the minds of the people an intense prejudice against it. 
The fear that a regular army was to be quartered on them by 
the British Government had been one of the points that the 
people had resisted. The enlistments had been made only 
for short periods, and so much difficulty had been caused 
by the expiration of their terms and their re-enlistment that, 
on the earnest representation of Washington, Congress deter- 
mined now to euhst men for the war and to receive no enlist- 
ment for a term of less than three years. Colonel Paterson 
had been eminently successful in re-enUsting his men, and 
was again commissioned to raise a regiment. Sixty-six thou- 
sand men were apportioned to the different States, but the 
enlistments fell short of that number. The men enlisted were 
♦Massachusetts Archives, vol. clxxiii., p. 115. 



102 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 to serve for three years without bounty, or were to serve dur- 
ing the war and secure at the end of it one hundred acres 
of land ; but even this inducement was not always sufficient. 
These measures created a standing army. 

Colonel Paterson had shown such ability in Canada that 
on the 30th of September, 1776, General Gates had recom- 
mended him to Congress as a very "deserving officer and 
worthy of the special notice of that body." Washington had 
also urged his promotion. The promotion was slow in being 
made. 

On November 30, 1776, Colonel Paterson had been assigned 
to one of the new Massachusetts regiments, with rendezvous at 
Springfield, at which place he had been ordered to be with his 
officers and men on January 1, 1777, and to wait there for or- 
ders as to which army he should join ; but the events of Christ- 
mas Day, 1776, and the battles of Trenton and Princeton, 
showed that he was too valuable a man to be kept in a subor- 
dinate position, and the order, so far as he was concerned, 
was never executed. 

Congress, on the 16th of February, 1777, promoted him to 
the rank of brigadier-general. He was commissioned on the 
21st, and assigned to the Northern Department. On the 22d 
of February he received orders from General Heath to join 
the army again. He had gone to Lenox on furlough waiting 
for his orders to join his brigade. On March 8d he wrote to 
General Heath from Lenox. He had previously been in Bos- 
ton. This letter, like all those relating to his command, 
shows his kind thought for both his former officers and men. 

" Lenox March 3 1777.* 
" Sir : I had the Honor of receiving your orders, of the 22 ulto j-es- 
terday, and shall comply with them with every possible despatch. The 
Troops, raised in this quarter, are ready to march, were they provided 
with Arms & Clothing, as I must make a journey to Albany to settle 
the account of my former Regt, I cannot go again to Boston untill I 
return. I have wrote Lt Colo. Vose to procure them with the greatest 
Despatch for the whole Regiment, and desire you to give him your 

* Mass. Historical Society, Boston, Heath papers, vol. iii., p.262. 



WEAKNESS AT TICONDEROGA. 103 

friendly assistance as it is a matter of utmost importance, which sir, 1777 
will be gratefully acknowledged by 

" Your most obed. 

" humb. servant. 

"John Paterson 

''Color 
" Hon. Gen. Heath." 

On March 29th he writes to Major-General Ward : 

" Lenox, March 29th, 1777. * 
" Sir : From the repeated accounts that I have received from the 
northard, I am veiy apprehensive that we are extremely weak at Ti- 
conderoga, considering how far the season is advanced : I make no 
manner of Doubt but Geni Carlton is minutely informed of our num- 
bers, the large Quantities of provisions p] we have there, and the situa. 
tion in all respects. I therefore took upon it my duty to inform you 
that the numbers marching to the northard according to my observa- 
tion, and intelligence are but very few, from what obstacle I know not 
in general, but in particular I am obliged to inform you that the 
(muster master) for the County of Berkshire hath not money enough 
to pay the Bounty to the Soldiers that he gladly would have mustered 
and approved, nor has he received or paid one farthing of Continental 
Bounty. Should we Sleep away but a few weeks, we may depend 
upon it that the important post and the amazing quantity of Provisions 
sent for the support of thirty Battallions departed for its defence is lost. 
Perhaps you may think me impertinent, but my duty affirm and Con- 
science require me to inform you thus much — 

" I have the pleasure to inform you that inlistments have gone on of 
late beyond my expectation but cannot march the men untill they re- 
ceive their Bountj' — I must also inform you that I have received 
orders fromGenl. Washington, to assist in pushing on the Troops with 
all possible dispatch who seems very anxious for the safety of the Post. 
You may rely on it, that a very few Days will entirely open the Lake 
at which time the Post is lost, unless immediately strongly reinforced 
— this comes by Express and I impatiently wait your orders — 

"It would be needless to restate to you the affair at the Peekskill 
and Sabbath Day Point &c. as you must have received intelligence be- 
fore this comes to hand — 

" I have the honr to be with 

" the greatest Esteem your 
" most obedient 

' ' humbl Servt 
" Hon. Artemus Ward, Maj. Gen." " Jno. Paterson, B. Genl." 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



104 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 On April 6th Major-General Heath wrote to General 

Paterson : 

" Head Qtr's, Bost. Apr. 6 1777 * 

" Dear Sir : Yours of the 29th ultimo to the Hon. Maj. Gen. Ward 
has been shewn to me— I am extremely sorry to hear of the weak 
state of Ticonderoga, which has been communicated to us also by Gen. 
Wayne — I am endeavoring to push on the Troops destined to that 
place as fast as possible. Cols. Marshalls, Brewer's, Bradford's and 
Francis' Regts have already marched they are to be followed by 
Baileys, Wessons and Jackson's as fast as they can be armed and 
equipt — the first division of them vvill march to-morrow or next day — 
the New Hampshire Regts are also to march to that place (Ticonder- 
oga) with the utmost despatch — I must beg you to quicken any be- 
longing to either of the before mentioned Regts that may be in your 
vicinity and repair to that place yourself as soon as possible. The 
Regt. late your own is destined to Peekskill — Part of it marches from 
here to-morrow, or next day for that place. If the three companies 
near you are ai'med and equipt, I w^ould have order them on to Peeks- 
kill without a moment's dela}' — taking the shortest and best route. If 
they are not armed and equipt let no time be lost in affecting of it. 

" You mention the want of the Continental Bounty — the chest here 
has at present an ample supply — every Colonel upon application may 
have a warrant for such terms as are necessary. 
"lam Dr. Sir 

" your's sincerely 

" W. Heath, 31. G. 

"P. S. Col. Brewer has not yet joined his regt. You wall desire 
him to do it immediately Gen. Wayne having represented that the 
Troops which have arrived are destitute of Field officers. 

" Brig. Gen. Paterson" 

In April the foUowiag resolve was passed relating to his 
successor : 

"State of Massachusetts Bay 

"In the House of Representatives April 22 1777 This House made 
choice by ballot of Joseph Vose as Colonel of one of the fifteen Bat- 
tallions to be raised in the State in the room of Coll. Paterson who is 
promoted 

" Sent up for concurrence 

" J Warren Speaker f 
" In Council April 22 1777 
' ' Rsvd & concurred 

" Jno Avery Dpy Secy." 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 
+ Massachusetts Archives, vol. ccxiii. , p. 332, 



NEEDS OF THE SOLDIERS. 105 

General Paterson went at once to Ticonderoga. General l'^77 
Gates sent an aide-de-camp to Bennington with a letter, ex- 
pecting to meet him there, but he writes from Albany, under 
date of April 23d, that, to his amazement. General Paterson 
had used such dispatch that he had gone on to Ticonderoga 
alone. From the plots of the Tories, he says that he considers 
Albany and the different magazines between that city and 
Lake George need more troops. * General Paterson arrived 
in good time at Ticonderoga, and was there in St. Claud's di\ds- 
ion, engaged in fortifying it and Mount Independence. The 
regiment which he had commanded had had but a poor sup- 
ply of arms, and on March 1st an order in council was given 
for arms to be sent, but on April 2d there were stiU 250 men 
in the regiment who had none. That they were destitute of 
other necessaries appears from a letter from Ticonderoga, 
written on May 2d, and addressed to the president of the 
council, as f oUows : 

" To the President of Council : \ * 

' ' Gentlemen : The many Difficulties this Grarrison labors under will, I 
flatter myself, be a sufficient Excuse for my troubling you with this. 

" The Soldiers are chiefly destitute of Blankets, some are without Shoes 
or Stockings, etc., etc., the want of which renders it extremely Difficult, 
indeed almost impracticable, to keep up the Necessary Duty, such as 
Scouting, Guarding, Fatigue, etc., which in this rainy, cold Climate you 
must be sensible is not only tedious, but very detrimental to the Health 
of the Army unless supplied with these very necessary articles. 

"The Garrison is at present very weak, not more than Nineteen Hun- 
dred Men sick and well, this Number composed of Soldiers, Carpenters, 
Seamen on boai'd the Fleet, Blacksmiths, Armorers, etc. ; the Men, there- 
fore, are continually on Duty of some sort — Numbers of them now des- 
titute of shoes, and by far the greater part without Blankets — must 
therefore beg of you, Gentlemen, that we may be speedily supplied. 

"The Stores of Rum, Sugar, etc., from Massachusetts State were ex- 
hausted before my arrival at this place ; it will be very necessary that we' 
have at least a small supply of those Ai'ticles for the Sick which are now 
in Camp. 

"I think it of Great Importance that the Troops destined for the De- 
fense of this Post be sent without Delay. We have had no late intelli- 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxcvii., p. 5. 
f Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxcvii., p. 12. 



106 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 gence from Canada, but from their seeming Supineness it is generally 
believed the}^ are meditating and preparing for some important stroke. 

"General "Wayne, before he left this place, wrote desiring the Militia 
of the comity of Berkshire and the Hampshire Grants to reinforce him, 
but the Disturbances at Albany have taken them that way. 

" The "Work necessary to put this place in a proper State of Defense is 
far from being complete, but I am pushing it on as fast as the Debilitated 
State of the Garrison will permit. 

" I am, Gentlemen, Your Honors' most Obedient and humble Servant, 

"John Paterson. 

" TicoNDEROGA, May 2, 1777." 

The following is a letter to General Gates : 

"TICONDEROGA, May 5, 1777. 
'' Honbie Majr Geni Gates. 

"By a Scout which this Day Returned I have Certain advice of a 
party of Indians &c. Who have come up the Lake as far as Crown 
point. And by their Tracts Taken there Rout towards Lake George — 
In Consequence of which Captain "Whitcomb with one hundred men 
has gone in pursuit of them, upon whose Retiu-n I hope to have the 
satisfaction of Giving You a good Account of." * 

On the 19th of May things still appear to be in a very un- 
favorable condition, as is shown by the following letter : 

"TicoNDEROGA May 19. 1777 

"To Ye Horihle GenU Court of the Massachusetts State or to the HorMe 
Council :\ 

"I beg Leave to Inform your Honrs That I have repaired to this place 
and Informed myself of the State of the Army And find them in Toler- 
able good Health & In high Spirits, considering they are in want of 
almost Everything but meat & Bread & peas that is good. But Distress 
for want of Comfortable Stores. There is News that is Credited that the 
Stores & the Genii Hoiise at St Johns is Consumed by fire In our favor 
by kind Providence Your favour to me is very kindly Recti & your care 
for them His Hon. Genii Paterson Coll Marshall & others in Rank have 
wrote I do not find but that the Commsy Majr Smith bears a good 
character. 

"I omit writing particulars in as much as Gentlemen has wrote, That 
feels for themselves & Soldiers By reason of uncommon Rain & mud be- 
yond expression It is Difiicult moving Stores But there must be no 
delay 

"Only Beg leave to Subscribe your Honrs most Obedt Humble Servt 

"Asa Douglas." 
*GatesMSS.,p. 105. 

f Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxcvii., p. 59. 



THIRTEEN UNITED COLONIES. 107 

On the 9th of June General Gates, who had been in com- l"' 
mand, left, and General Schuyler succeeded him. He at once 
ordered all the forts to be put into the best condition for ser- 
vice, and appealed to the States to forward their mihtia, and 
on the 20th made a personal inspection of the post, as he con- 
sidered it to be in a dangerous position, not only because of 
the unsatisfactory condition in which he found the army, who 
were in need of all kinds of supplies, but also because they 
were not in a proper state of discipline. The troops were not 
numerous enough to hold out against any protracted siege. 
The whole garrison in both places was, including artisans and 
900 militia-men, only 2546 men. 

Thirteen colonies had now joined in the struggle for free- 
dom. Massachusetts bad been declared in Parliament, on the 
ninth of February, 1775, to be in " rebellion against the king," 
and she, on May 1, 1776, had expunged the name of the king 
from all legal proceedings. Ehode Island, on May 4, 1775, 
had renounced allegiance to the king. South Carolina, on 
March 1, and Georgia, on April 5, 1776, had instructed their 
delegates to vote for independence. New Jersey, on April 6, 
1776, had voted "that the commerce of the thirteen colonies 
is not subject to the king," and had ordered two regiments to 
be raised for the Continental service. North Carolina on April 
14th, Virginia on May 15th, New York on June 11th, Connec- 
ticut on June 14th, Delaware on June 15th, New Hampshire on 
the same day, Pennsylvania on June 24th, and Maryland on 
June 28th, had each instructed their delegates to vote for inde- 
pendence, and it was proper that the colonies so joined should 
have a flag. 

Congress had appointed a committee on a flag which should 
be a national emblem to be adopted by all the thirteen 
colonies. The committee consisted of Hon. Eobert Morris and 
Hon. George Ross. This committee, accompanied by Gen. 
Washington, called on Betsey Ross, at 209 Arch Street, Phila- 
delphia, and after consultation with her decided to adopt the 
flag which Washington had raised at Cambridge on January 



108 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

l''"J"7 1st, the 3"ear before, except that in the place of the crosses of 
St. George and St. Andrew there were thirteen white stars on 
a blue ground. This flag was accepted by them, made by her, 
and adopted by resolution of Congress on June 14, 1777. 

It is said that the first actual military service of this flag 
was at the siege of Fort Stanwix. On August 2, 1777, the 
fort was besieged by British and Indians. The garrison of 
the fort had no flag, and one was extemporized for the pur- 
pose. The red stripes were made out of the petticoat of a 
woman, the white stripes and the stars were made out of the 
shirts of the soldiers, and the blue was made out of Colonel 
Gansevoort's military cloak. The siege was raised on August 
22d, and this flag is now preserved as a great treasure in 
Colonel Gansevoort's family. 

On June 13th General Paterson received the following 
order : 

" Stillwater, June 13, 1777. 

"Gen. Paterson's Brigade to be mustered to-morrow at four 
o'clock — All officers and soldiers belonging thereto whether on board 
the fleet or in the pubUc works are to repair to their respective regi- 
ments for that purpose.* 

" Orders by General Schuyler." 

On June 29th General Paterson was Brigadier of the day 
at Stillwater. 

On the 30th of June General Paterson wrote to Congress 
on behalf of Captain Goodrich : 

" Honorable Gentlemen : Capt William Goodrich who was taken pris- 
oner at Quebeck Winter before last, and since redeemed by Exchange 
has been since the first of March last, doing duty as Majr of Brigade to 
the Brigade mider my Command, and as he has not a Commission as 
Majr of Brigade this is to request you would please to order one made 
out for him. 

" Your Compliance will oblige 

" Honorable Gentlemen Your most Obedt and verry Hble Servt 

" John Paterson. 

"To the Honorable Council. 
"TiCONDEROGA, June 3, 1777." 

* Livingston's Orderly Book. 



BURGOTNES ADVANCE. 109 

"In Council June 26, 1777 Eead & ordered that Capt Wm Goodrich 1777 
be commissioned as a Major of the Brigade whereof John Paterson Esq 
is Brigadier. " Jno Avery Dpy Secy." * 

On the second anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, 
General Burgoyne began to cross the lake to Crown Point. 
On July 1st he was before Ticonderoga. He had secured de- 
tachments from seventeen Indian nations, who are described 
by a German officer as being " tall, warlike, and enterprising, 
but fiendishly wicked." Within a month they brought in 
twenty captives and as many scalps. Burgoyn^ argued cer- 
tain victory from what he was pleased to call their " inces- 
sant activity," and promised the loss of their scalps to every 
runaway or deserter. The Indians, however, were not satis- 
fied, and wished to return to their tribes. They had always 
been a treacherous ally and had insisted that they should be 
allowed to retain the cruel customs of their fathers. Bur- 
goyne, however, secured a pledge from them that they would 
not desert him during the campaign. On the sixth he wrote 
that he was not likely to be in possession of Albany before 
the twenty-second or twenty-third of the month. 

As our position at Ticonderoga had become very dangerous, 
at a council of war held on June 20th application was made 
to Washington for reinforcements. These did not arrive, and 
on July 5th it was decided to abandon the position. Ticon- 
deroga had been fortified with the greatest care and was con- 
sidered impregnable, but the key to the whole situation had 
been neglected. It was a crag which rises 600 feet above the 
lake, about a mile south of the fort, and which commanded it. 
It was so difficult of access that no one thought it could be 
fortified. The possibility of its being occupied by the enemy 
does not appear to have been even contemplated. It had there- 
fore been entirely overlooked. It was evident that a battery 
planted there would command the fort, but no one thought that 
siege guns could by any possibility be dragged to its top, and 
so the position had not been secured by the Americans. General 
* Revolutionary Rolls, vol. xxvi. , p. 264. 



110 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 Phillips, however, was not slow in appreciating the strategic 
value of the position. He approached it through a defile which 
could not be seen from the fort, working night and day in con- 
structing a road over which he could drag up his cannon. As 
the British surrounded the fort the garrison looked forward to 
an assault. The officers and men were confident that they could 
maintaiu then- ground until the expected reinforcements ar- 
rived, but on the morning of July 5th the red coats of the 
British soldiers appeared on the top of this crag, and their 
brass cannon glistened in the sun. They named the crag Fort 
Defiance. Ticonderoga had thus, unperceived by our forces, 
been tm-ned into a trap. There was to be no fighting ; Ticon- 
deroga was already practically taken by the British. There 
was nothing to do but to evacuate as quickly as possible. Early 
in the morning, at a council of war at wdiich all the command- 
ing officers were present, the position was declared untenable. 
General Paterson was present at both of these councils. 

" At a Council of Genei'al Officers, held at Ticonderoga July 5, 

1777. 

" Present, 

" Major General St. Clair, 

'^' Brigadier General De Roche Fermoy, 

" Brigadier General Poor, 

" Brigadier General Paterson, 

" Col. Commandant Long. 

" General St. Clair represented to the Council, that as there is every 
reason to believe that the batteries of the enemy are ready to open 
upon the Ticonderoga side, and that the camp is very much exposed to 
their fire, and to be infiladed on all quarters ; and as there is also 
reason to expect an attack upon Ticonderoga and Mount Independence 
at the same time, in which case neither could draw any support from 
the other ; he desires their opinion whether it would be most pi'oper to 
remove the tents to tlielow ground, where they would be less exposed, 
and wait the attack at the Ticonderoga Lines, or whether the whole of 
the tx'oops should be drawn over to Mount Independence, the more 
effectually to provide for the defence of that post. 

" At the same time the General begged leave to inform them that 
the whole of our force consisted of 2089 effective rank and file, includ- 



EVACUATION OF TICONDEROGA. Ill 

ing 124 ai'tificeis unarmed, besides the corps of artillery, and about 1777 
900 militia that have joined us, and cannot stay but a few daj's. 

"The council were unanimously of opinion, that it is impossible 
with our force to defend Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, and 
that the troops, cannon and foices should be removed this night, if 
possible, to Mount Independence. 

"2d. Whether after the division of the army at Ticonderoga have 
retreated to Mount Independence, we shall be in a situation to defend 
that post, or in case it cannot be defended, if a retreat into the country 
will be practicable. 

"The council are unanimously of opinion, that, as the enemy have 
already partl}^ surrounded us, & there remains nothing more to invest 
us completely but their occupying the neck of and betwixt the lakes 
and the east creek, which is not more than three quarters of a mile 
over, and possessing themselves of the Narrows betwixt us and 
Skeenesborough, and thereby cutting off all communication with the 
country, a retreat ought to be undertaken as soon as possible, and that 
we shall be very fortunate to effect it. 
' ' Signed 

" A. St. Clair, Maj. Gen. 
" De Roche Fermoy, B. G. 
" Enoch Poor, " 

" John Paterson, " 

" Colonel Commandant Long. 

'* A true copy taken from the original, Isaac Budd Dunn, A. D. C. 
"Published by order of Congress, Charles Thompson, Secretary."* 

On tlie 6tli of July both forts were evacuated, witli the effect 
of making the enemy, both at home and abroad, again con- 
fident that the ''rebellion" would soon be put down, "as 
this oversight on the part of the Americans in not forti- 
fying so commanding a position showed that they had no 
capable men." It was exactly the same mistake that the 
British general (Howe) made in neglecting to fortify Dor- 
chester Heights in 1775. The evacuation Avas effected during 
the night as weD. as the hurried preparations would permit. 
It was made known to the British by the accidental setting 
fire to a house in the very early morning, which discovered to 
them the rear-guard of the American army. In less than an 
hour the British occupied the empty fortress with a thousand 
men. But for the great activity of General Burgoyne the 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



112 LIFE OF MAJOR-(tENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1'^''''' American army would have come off without harm, but he 
divided his forces and harassed them in every du-ection. Gen- 
eral Fraser with 900 men at once started in pursuit. He was 
followed in a few hours by Riedsdale, while Burgoyne started 
up the lake with the main army. On the morning of the 7th 
the rear-guard of 1000 men of the American army was over- 
taken six miles behind the main army at Hubarton (Hubard- 
ton, Rutland Co., Vt.). An obstinate fight ensued, in which 
the British were at first repulsed, but when the Hessian rein- 
forcements came up under Riedesel the Americans were 
defeated with the loss of one third of their number. General 
Paterson's brigadier-major (Bement) was wounded and taken 
prisoner in this fight. Very few of the Americans were killed. 
The greater part of those engaged in the fight escaped. But 
during the day the British took over two hundred persons 
who were stragglers, either invalids or wounded. The British 
loss in killed and wounded was 175, which obliged them to 
halt. It was a serious loss to the Americans, but it checked 
the pursuit, and five days later St. Clair with 2000 men 
reached Fort Edward and joined the main forces under 
Schuyler. On July 12th General Paterson reported there. 

"At a Council of General Officers held at Fort Edward the 20th day of 
July 1777 

"Present 

" Major General Schuyler 
" Major General St Clair 
" Brigadier General Nixon 
" Brigadier General Poor 
" Brigadier General Paterson 
"Brigadier General Learned 
" Brigadier General Ten Broeck 
" Brigadier General Fellows 
"General Schuyler informed the Council that applyeation had been 
made to him by several of the officers of the Militia to return to their 
Habitations. He also laid before the Council the Examination of Colonel 
Cilley's Son and a servant of General Poor sent in by the Enemy and those 
of two Soldiers of the 21st Regiment who were made prisoners by one of 
our Scouts about Six miles below Fort Ann. After reading this informa- 
tion General Schuyler begged the sense of the Council upon the following 
Questions. 



EVACUATION OF TICONDEROGA. 113 

" 1st Whether in our present situation and that of the Enemy at Skenes- 1777 
borough it would be prudent to dismiss any of our Militia ? 

" 2dly If that measure is thought prudent, what proportion of the Mili- 
tia ought to be discharged ? 

"Silly What will be the most eligible mode of discharging part of 
them, so as not to give too much umbrage to such as shall be ordered to 
remain ? 

< ' 4thly Whether, if it must be thought expedient to dismiss part of the 
Militia, any of the ]Militia of the County of Hampshire in the State of 
Massachusetts Bay, and of the County of Litchfield in the State of Con- 
necticut which are just come up, and which the General is informed, are 
only Drafts and not the whole Force of those Counties, should be suffered 
to return? 

"On the first and second questions, the Council are of opinion that 
altho' the Army is already inferior to that of the least number of the 
Enemy, of which we have an account yet, considering the distress that 
may be brought on the Country, at this very ci-itical Time when the Har- 
vest is so near at hand should the whole of the Militia be detained, and 
in hope that a reinforcement of Continental Troops mil be sent up ; that 
one half of the Militia be permitted to return Home. 

"On the third Question the Cotmcil recommend that the Brigadier 
Generals of Militia together with their Field Officers, adopt such meas- 
ures as shall appear best adapted to answer the purpose : 

" Upon the fourth Question the Council are unanimously of opinion 
that the Militia of the County of Hampshire in the Massachusetts Bay 
and those of the State of Connecticiit should be detained and that Gen- 
eral Sehuj-ler write to the President of the State of Massachusetts Bay 
for a Relief of those Counties of Berkshire & Hampshire that will be left 
here and for a reinforcement of not less than one thousand Eank and 
File from the state of Connecticut. 

" Fh Schuyler "John Paterson 

•' Ar St Clair " Ebenzr Learned 

" Joan Nixon " John Fellows 

" Enoch Poor " Abrah Ten Broeck " * 

On July 24th the followiDg orders were issued: 

" Head Quarters, Moses Creek, July 24th. 
"The Army to be divided into two divisions. Major Geni St. Clair ta 
have Brigr General Fermoy's, Poor's, and Paterson's Brigades in his, 
with such militia as are now with any of said Brigades and such as 
may from time to time be annexed to them. Major General Arnold's 
Division to consist of Brigadier Geni Nixon's and Learned's Brigades 

♦Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxlvi., p. 398. 



114 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 and the Brigade of Militia from this State commanded by Brig. Gen. 

Ten Broeck." * 

" Head Quarters, Moses Creek, July 24th. 

" Brigade Major Goodrich having petitioned for leave to resign, and 
having alleged satisfactory reason for such requisition, the General ac- 
cepted his resignation, and appointed Major McCkire to the Post which 
he filled — Mj McClure is therefore to be obeyed & respected as Brigade 
Major to Geni Paterson." f 

Schuyler, the commander of the Department, was severely- 
blamed for the fall of Ticonderoga, and, although he was one 
of the ablest American generals, he was superseded by Gates. 
Subsequent events proved the wisdom of his plans. St. Clair 
was afterwards justified by a court-martial. For the failure 
to fortify Mount Defiance both Gates and St. Clair were to 
blame, but St. Clair had only been in command about three 
weeks. The retreat from Ticonderoga was made in some 
haste, as appears from the following letters : 

"Fort Miller 27th July 1777 
*' To the Honerdble Council and Honerable House of Bepresentatives of the 

Massachusetts Stated 
"May it please your Honors. 

"On the Sad & Melancholly Sixth Instant I with the army Left Ticon- 
deroga and Next Morning upon advice first from General Paterson & 
Other lower Officers and also from General St Clair — after Certain In- 
formation that the Enemy followed and Overtook our Boats, before Some 
Arrived to Skeensborough &e. by which means I lost my all (Money only 
Excepted) I Left the Army at Castleton Soon after was Informed that 
The Enemy were Come to Fort George Therefore what of our Stores 
were left There I concluded must be Lost. Therfore Judged it my duty 
to Return Lodge the Money, Procure Invoices and return Back which I 
accomplished with Mr. Breck at Northampton & returned. On my return 
Found the Enemy had not Visited Fort George. — Nevertheless the Stores 
left at Fort George by Mr Wright were brought off with the Continental 
Stores in Such Haste, that no proper Distinction was kept. I have Till 
Yesterday Improved my Time Industriously to Search out & Secure the 
States Property, with some, tho' Little Success. Beg Leave Further to 
Inform your Honors, that upon Application to General Schuyler to Ena- 
ble me to Take into Custody what I might find of the property of the 
Massachusetts State, he was pleased to Order as Follows viz 

* Gen. Schuyler's orders, Livingston's Ordeily Book, 
f Gen. Schuyler's orders, Livingston's Orderly Book. 
X Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxcvii., p. 348. 



EVACUATION OF TTCOXDEROGA. Il5 

" 'Sir you are to take into your Care all the Liquors & Other Stores 1777 
which you may find on the Ground Belonging to the State of Massachu- 
setts Bay — & are to Issue no Liquors without An Order from Head Quar- 
ters you will make a return of the Quantity you have on Hand. 

" • James Wilkinson D. A. General. 
" 'Head Quarters, July 25, 1777. 
'" To Majr Smith.' 

" Now may it please your Honors after I Rec'd the Afore Mentioned 
Orders I made Search & found Two Hdds Rum (not Full) one Hdd Sugar 
Four bbs Ginger one bl Oatmeal one bl peper (much out) then Through 
Discouragement gave out and Applied to General Schuyler Intreating his 
Honor not to Interfere in his Orders with the Orders of my Constituents 
(as no man can Serve Two Masters) Much was said on the Subject. 
I Tho't I did my duty on the Occasion General Paterson being present 
was not Wanting but did his part According to his Much Better Abilities 
But to no (appearance) of Effect — The General (no doubt) is determined 
in the affair as also Brigadier General Poor from New Hampshire State 
Appeared Resolutely determined to Obtain if possible an Eaquel privi- 
ledge with General Paterson or any Gentlemen from our State as The' 
these Stores were the property of the Continent Beg Leave Farther to 
Inform your Honors that I did Most Earnestly Entreat General Schuyler 
not to Force me in Between Two hot fires but if His was determined (as 
Before Mentioned) to take the Stores out of my Hands & dismiss me, or 
Confine me, or any Thing his Honor pleased, Rather than Compell me to 
Violate my Trust & my Orders Rec'd Much was Argued on the Subject 
more than I can relate in my present Hurry. The General was Generous 
to me in Everything but his Fixed purposes I therefore Judged it my In- 
dispensable duty to Report to your Honors & Humbly beg direction Ear- 
nestly Intreating for direction as Soon as Possible — Meantime beg leave 
to give it as my Humble Opinion (from what I see & Hear) that the Regi- 
ment from our State would be less dissatisfied to have Nothing sent Them 
or all the Stores (Clothing Excepted) Removed back rather than to have 
those of Other States have an Eaqual Right with them or Possibly Obtain 
Privilidge Beyond Them. 

" Pray your Honors to send me directions by the Bearer or by such 
hand as your Honors may appoint, as I Stand in great Need to know how 
to Conduct in my present Situation, Would only Inform that an Attack is 
hourly Expected from the Enemy, our Army are now Between Fort Ed- 
ward and Fort Miller 

" Have the Honor to be your Honors 

"Obedient Servant 

"Hezb Smith."* 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxcvii., p. 348. 



116 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 On July 28th General Paterson was at Moses Creek camp 
at a court-martial. On August 1st he had reached Saratoga. 
No one was prepared for the shock which the evacuation of 
Ticonderoga caused. The people had been made to believe that 
the position was impregnable. The news of its loss made many- 
feel that there was no use to continue the struggle. It was a 
bitter disappointment to the army, whose hopes in the North 
were centered on that fortress. It was a great mortification to 
Congress, for that body had gained great prestige by the way 
the fortress had been captured, and it was hoped by holding 
the fort to gain support both at home and abroad. Subse- 
quent events, however, proved that its capture did not help the 
British in the least, for, to hold it, Burgoj-ne had to detach a 
large part of his force which he could not spare, and he was 
obhged subsequently to abandon it. Burgoyue now moved 
forward rapidly. On July 10th he had reached the head 
of Lake Champlain, and on July 30th, notwithstanding the 
fact that the roads were torn up by Schuyler, he was at 
Fort Edward. It was a rapid march, and he was confident of 
captui'ing the whole of the American army. On August 1st 
Congress, by a vote of eleven States, superseded Major-Gen- 
eral Schuyler by Major-General Gates, who took command 
on the 19th of August. All the generals were ordered "to 
repair to headquarters that an inquiry be made as to the rea- 
sons for the evacuation." The acts and resolutions of Con- 
gress are given below : 

" In Congress, 29 July 1777 * 
"Resolved 

" That an enquiry be made into the reasons of the evacuation of Ti- 
conderoga & Mount Independence & into the conduct of the general offi- 
cers, who were in the Northern department at the time of the evacuation. 

•' That a committee be appointed to digest & report the mode of con- 
ducting the enquiry. 

"July 30 
"Besolved 

" That Major General St Clair who commanded at Ticonderoga & 
Mount Independence repair forthwith to Head Quarters. 

♦Massachusetts Archives, vol. ccxiv., p. 444. 



ORDERS TO MARCH. 117 

"August 1st. 1777 
"Besolved 

" That Major General Schuyler be directed to repair to Head Quarters 

" That general Washington be directed to order such general-ofHcer as 
he shall think proper, immediately to repair to the Northern department 
to relieve Major General Schuyler in his command there 

"That brigadier Poor, brigadier Paterson & brigadier Roche De 
Fermoy be directed to i-epair to Head Quarters. 

"August 3rd 

"Whereas it is represented to Congress that general Washington is of 
opinion that the immediate recall of all the brigadiers from the Northern 
department may be productive of inconvenience to the publick service ; 

' 'Besolved 

"That the order of Congress of the 1st day of this month respecting 
the said brigadiers, be suspended, until general Washington shall judge 
it may be carried into effect with safety 

" By order of Congress 

' ' John Hancock Presidt " 

On August 1st four companies of light infantry were 

formed. 

'• Headquarters, August 1st 1777. 

" Brigades ordered ' immediately form companies of Light Infantry,' 
one from each regiment of the most active officers and men. the 
commanding officers of regiments to appoint the officers and report to 
Adj. Gen. as soon as possible. 

" Nixon's Brigade to furnish 168, including officers. 

Fermoy's 105 

Poor's 112 

Paterson's 109 

Learned 116" 

"Stillwater. Aug. 7th. 
•* Field Officer for Fatigue from Paterson's Brigade.'" 

"Stillwater. Aug. 8th 
" Brigadier of the Day, Paterson." 

The order for retreat was given. 

" Head Quarters, Stillwater, Aug. 13, 1777. 

"The Army to march to-morrow morning at Four o'clock. Tents 
to be struck and furled at two o'clock. 

" Col. Bradford's regiment is annexed to Gen. Paterson's brigade. 

" Col. Baldwin with fifty or sixty men to attend the rear guard 
in order to destroy the bridges. 



118 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENEKAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 " Brigade Order of March. 

Gen. Paterson Van, 

Gen. Glover Center, 

Gen. Nixon Rear."* 

" Aug. 14, 1777. 
"Geni Nixon's, Poor's and Paterson's Brigades to strike their Tents 
at three o'clock to-morrow morning and to march at Gun Firing." f 

In order to help St. Leger and prevent the Americans from 
mustering in force against himself, Burgoyne had planned an 
attack on Bennington. This town had been made a depot for 
American supplies. His army was already suffering from 
want of food. His transportation had become very difficult 
for want of horses, which among other things he expected 
to find there. He was very glad to make this diversion, 
as he hoped to strengthen his forces by collecting loyal- 
ists into his regiments. When the news of the intended 
attack was received, Colonel Stark, who commanded a few 
hundred mihtia near that place, prepared to defend it, and 
sent for reinforcements. The first to arrive was a regiment 
of Berkshire mihtia under Parson Allen of Pittsfield. They 
were subsequently reinforced by Vermont troops. The battle 
was fought on August 16th. The Americans, under Colonel 
Stark, were undisciplined but determined militia, very ably 
commanded. The English troops were composed of some of 
the most capable officers and best disciplined men of Europe, 
with some loyalists and Indians. They were sent in two de- 
tachments, of seven hundred each, on different days. The com- 
mander of the fii'st detachment was killed, the Indians fled, 
and the rest of the troops surrendered. The next detachment 
was utterly routed. It was one of the most stubbornly fought 
battles of the war. It left Burgoyne with both flanks exposed, 
with his center demorahzed by the loss of the Canadians, who 
fled in terror, and of the Indians, who deserted in great num- 
bers. He had lost some of his best officers, one seventh of 
his army, and a large quantity of arms and ammunition, of 
which he was greatly in need. He was not only weakened, but 

* Massachusetts Historical Society. 

f Livingston's Orderly Book. 



INQUIRY AS TO TICONDEROGA. 119 

he was disheartened. The news of the surrender of Ticon- 1777 
deroga was received with great joy in England. It was re- 
garded as the death-blow to the American cause. The English 
even began to discuss the best methods for restoring the roj-al 
government in the colonies. They considered the battle of 
Bennington only as a diversion and did not pay much attention 
to it. The Americans had now the strategic advantage, and 
Bargoyne plainly saw that he could not be certain of victory. 
He could not delay his march, he could only advance. Tlie 
delay had given our army the opportunity to occupy and 
strongly intrench themselves at Stillwater, and unless they 
were dislodged the plan to capture Albany could not be 
carried out, and he resolved to do it — as he thought, without 
serious difficulty. The success of this plan was of vital im- 
portance to him ; if it succeeded, the situation of the American 
army would become desperate. 

"In Congress, 27 August 1777 
" Congress took into Consideration the report of the Committee on the 
Mode of conducting the Enquiry into the Causes of the Evacuation of 
Ticonderoga and Mount-Independence ; and into the Conduct of the Gen- 
eral-officers in the Northern Department at the time of the Evacuation : 
Whereupon 

' ^Resolved 

"That a Committee of three Members of Congress be appointed and 
authorized to correspond with Publick Bodies and Private Persons, by 
Letter or otherwise, in this and the neighbouring States, in order to col- 
lect the clearest and fullest Evidence of the State of the Army in the 
Northern Department, and also of the State of the Troops, military Stores 
and Provisions, at the said Posts before and at the Time when, the Evac- 
uation was determined upon : 

" To examine the Minutes of the Council of War and to inquire what 
Orders were given from Time to Time, by the Commander in Chief of that 
Department : 

" To inquire particularly if the Barracks and Stores were destroyed, or 
left standing. 

" To inquire of the Quarter-master general and Commissary-general 
what Quantity of Provision had been laid up at Ticonderoga, or near it, 
for the use of the Garrison ; and what Measures were taken or taking for 
throwing further supplies. 

"To inform themselves, as fully as possible, of the Number, Appoint- 



120 LIFE OF IHAJOR-GEXERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 ment and Movements of the Enemy, from the Time of their Landing to 
the Time of evacuating the Fort ; and also the Number, Quality and 
Condition of the Garrison ; and if any and what Measures were taken to 
gain Intelligence of the Strength of the Enemy, by the Commander in 
Chief or the Commanding-officer at Ticouderoga. 

" To inquire of the Clothier General what Clothing from Time to Time 
had been issued for the Use of the Northern Department, and from other 
publick officers into the Expenditure of such general stores. 

' ' To inquire into the Number, Equipment and Behaviour of the Mili- 
tia, and the Term of Service for which they were engaged at and before 
the Time of the Evacuation ; into the Situation and Condition of the 
Lines at Ticonderoga and the Fortifications upon Mount Independence, 
what Works had been thrown up by the Enemy, w'hat Posts they had 
taken, and the Distance of their Works : what Orders had been given by 
the Commanding Officer for directing and regulating a retreat, and the 
manner in which the retreat was conducted; what Orders were given 
relative to the Sick and what Care was taken of them ; whether any Con- 
tinental Troops and what Number were at Albany, or in the Neighbour- 
hood ; how long they had been there and why they were not ordered to 
Ticonderoga. 

" To inquire into the Number and Size of Cannon, and whether any 
were removed before the Evacuation ; the Quantity and Species of mili- 
tary Stores, the State of the Arms, both of the Continental Soldiers and 
Militia ; whether the Troops were furnished with Bayonets, and whether 
there were any and what number of Pikes or Spears, proper for defend- 
ing Lines. 

' ' That upon such Enquiry and Collection of Facts, a copy of the whole 
to be transmitted by the said Committee, to General Washington, and 
that thereupon h<3 appoint a Court-Martial for the trial of the General 
officers who were in the Northern Department when Ticonderoga and 
Mount Independence were evacuated, agreeably to the Rules and Regu- 
lations of War 

"August 28 
"Congress proceeded to the Election of the Committee to collect Evi- 
dence and Facts relative to the Evacuation of Ticonderoga, &c, and the 
Ballots being taken 

' * Mr Laurens Mr Richard H Lee and Mr J Adams were elected 
" Copy from the Journals 

" William Ch Houston D Seer'y" 

As the opinion of the necessity for the evacuation had been 
concurred in by all, they aU came in for a share of censure 
before the trial and for a thorough investigation by Congress. 



CiEXERAL ORDERS. 



121 



How nobly General Paterson was to redeem his character be- l'^77 
foi'e Congress and in the public estimation was shown shortly 
after in the battles which preceded the surrender of Burgoyne. 
From August 4th to September 25th General Paterson's camp 
was at Stillwater. He was officer of the day there on August 
4th, 8tb, and 12th, and on September 14th, 25tli, and 30th. 
On September 5th he made returns from Van Schaick's Island, 
nine miles from Albany, of the commissioned and non- 
commissioned officers under him, having been restored to his 
conmiand. 

On August 12th General Paterson was brigadier of the day 
at Stillwater. 

" Saratoga, Sunday, September 7, 1777. 

" Had preaching. Reed. Orders in the evening to strike tents at 4 
and marcli off at gunfire. Made oath to the muster Rolls before Gen. 
Paterson with Lt. Remick."* 

General orders, 19th instant : 



" Parole 
" C sign 



' ' Brigdr of the day 
Brigade Majr 
Field officer 



Paterson 
McClure 
Colo. S. Livingstone " f 



" Parole 
"CSign 

" Parole Marble Head 
" C sign Salem 

" Parole 
" C sign 



" Head Quarters 25th Sept. 1777. 

Brigdr of the day Paterson " f 
" Head Quarters Sept. 30th 1777. 

Brigdr of the day Paterson " f 
" Head Quarters 5th Oct. 1777. 

Brigdr of the daj"- Paterson." f 



* Gen. Henry Sewal's Diary, American Antiquarian Society, Worces- 
ter, Mass. 

t Cook's Orderly Book, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, 
Mass. 



122 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHX PATERSON. 

1777 It was necessaiy for the British, both from a commercial 
and a military point of view, to obtain the complete control 
of New York State. The population was not large, and there 
were many royalists among the people. Its complete subju- 
gation, it was thought, would have such a moral effect on the 
other provinces as to cause them to surrender, while its mili- 
tary occupation would give them control of the great water- 
ways and access to Canada. It was thought at first that it 
would be an easy task, but after Carleton's retreat from Crown 
Point, which enabled Schuyler to reinforce Washington \\dth 
such disastrous results to the British, they thought in 1777 to 
work out a plan which wonld be more successful. They now 
held Canada and New York Island, and in order to secure the 
rest of the State by attacking it from three points at once, 
Lord George Germain, then in charge of American affairs 
in England, determined to give a decided blow which should 
wipe out once for all the rebellious spirit in the colonies. For 
this purpose he made, with General Burgoyne, a careful 
study of the plan of campaign for 1777, which was to ex- 
tinguish all traces of the war in the north and so overwhelm 
the south by its show of power that it would not only end 
the war, but he would be able to punish its aiders and abet- 
tors with a heavy hand. This plan was to gain possession 
of the Hudson River, and consequently of New York State 
and New England, and to occupy New York City. As he 
saw it, the plan could not fail. So he sent Burgoyne to 
Canada to go down Lake Champlain, taking all the towns on 
his way, including Ticonderoga, and to occupy Albany and 
Hudson. Colonel St. Leger was to go up the St. Lawrence to 
Lake Ontario, land at Oswego, and with the assistance of Sir 
John Johnson and the Indians, take Fort Stanwix at the 
"Oneida carrying-place," now Rome, on the Mohawk River, 
and then go down the Mohawk Valley to join forces with 
Burgoyne at Albany. Sir William Howe, with the main 
army of 80,000 men, was to come up from New York, force 
all the passes, and arrive at Albany, and thus by the junction 



ENGLISH PLANS IN 1777. 123 

of the three armies complete the subjugation of New York 1777 
State and the control of the Hudson River, and insure the 
complete overthrow of the rebellion. A part of this scheme 
had been in the plans of campaign of 1776, when General 
Carleton was to come down from Canada through Ijake 
Champlain to the Hudson, and was to take New York. His 
retreat from Crown Point and going into winter quarters en- 
abled Schuyler to send reinfoi'cements to Washington, so that 
he gained the brilliant battles of Trenton and Princeton. 

In spite of all tlie skill of Wasliington, the British, at the 
end of 1777, had control of both the southern and the north- 
ern end of this long line of almost complete water communi- 
cation between the sea and Canada. The mistakes of General 
Carleton had awakened the British to the necessity of taking 
the Hudson E,iver, and the Americans to the importance of 
holding it. Lord Germain saw in his plan no possibility of 
failure. 

The only parts of New York then inhabited were the villages 
of the valley of the Mohawk and of the Hudson. There was 
at this time an occasional fortified trading-place, but the total 
population of the State was only 170,000. The State ranked 
the seventh of the colonies, just after Maryland and Connecti- 
cut and just before South Carolina. It was then as com- 
manding both from a commercial and military point of view 
as it is now. The English authorities knew that among its 
population there were many Tories. The people of Pennsyl- 
vania and New Jersey, the most contiguous to New York, 
were lukewarm in their support of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and they hoped much from that fact. As they 
held the sea and New York harbor, they were sure that they 
could make a successful attack on the colonies both in New 
York and in New England and south of it from the north. 
The British did not calculate either the effect of the invasion 
on the inhabitants or the results of failure. If they could 
have foreseen the defeat of St. Leger and the battle of Benning- 
ton, weakening their side and strengthening the other, the 



124 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSOK 

1777 plan might have been changed, but if it had been successful 
it would have proved very disastrous to the Americans and 
perhaps have produced the failure of the cause which the 
British so much wished. The idea that their plan could fail 
for any cause never entered the mind of the British ministry. 
It was evident then that the plan was absolutely dependent 
upon the harmonious and successful cooperation of all the 
forces involved, and on junctions being effected by the three 
commanders. One part of it was as necessary as the other. 
Having personal contact with Burgoyne before he went to 
Canada, Lord Germain gave him positive orders and left him 
no discretion as to what he should do, but he expressly 
directed him to follow the Hudson, whatever might happen, 
until he should effect his junction with the main army at 
Albany, taking for granted that the same precision would be 
used by the two others. On the other hand, no unconditional 
orders had reached Howe. He understood that he was to 
ascend the river in force, but he was left with discretionary 
power as to when and how he was to do it, and the reasons 
for this were for a long time unintelligible. It appears then 
that Burgoyne and St. Leger had prescribed orders, while 
Howe had received only discretionary ones. This was caused 
by the following curious incident : The dispatch containing 
the explicit orders for Howe was drafted atid with many other 
papers awaited the signature of the minister. When he came 
to the orders for General Howe, he found that it had not been 
fair-copied and sent it back to the copyist to be corrected. It 
was just at the end of the day before his holiday. He hurried 
off to have the full enjoyment of his vacation, but when he 
came back the matter had escaped his recollection. The 
document was thrust unsigned into a pigeon-hole, where it 
was not discovered until some time after the defeat of 
Burgoyne was a foregone conclusion. St. Leger started as 
ordered, and met with a disastrous defeat, the news of which 
reached Burgoyne just after the battle of Bennington ; but he 
had no choice but to move south, expecting to be reinforced by 



LORD HOWE"s plan FOR 1777. 125 

Howe coming north. General Lee, who had been taken prisoner, 1777 
commenced a series of traitorous intrigues with the Howes, 
which, however, came to nothing. As Sir William Howe had 
no unconditional ordei-s he felt himself at liberty to execute 
any maneuver that seemed to Mm to be wise. He thought it 
best, to insure the success of his owm plans, to start south in 
order to capture Washington's army in New Jersey, and he put 
off the carrying out of the expedition to the north until he had 
captured it. He w'as convinced that he would then have plenty 
of time to go up the Hudson. Washington's superior strategy 
foiled his efforts, although he had only 8000 men and the British 
had 18,000. In the meantime Howe heard of the capture of Ti- 
conderoga, and felt satisfied that Burgoyne could take care of 
himself, and set sail for Philadelphia, with the result of the 
defeat of Washington both at the Brandywine and at German- 
town, but these victories made it impracticable for him to go 
to Bm'goyne. He received in August the imconditional order 
to move north to the support of Burgoyne, b^^t it w\as impossi- 
ble for Mm to go then, and if it had been possible, he could 
not have reached the Hudson in time to cooperate wath him. 
Burgoyne's orders left him nothing to do but to move south. 
Early in June he took the field with an army of 7900 men. 
He had with him some of the ablest officers and best-di'illed 
troops in the British army, and was confident of success. 

For the purpose of carrying out the belated instructions of 
Lord Germain and forming a junction with Bui-goyne at Al- 
bany by destroying all the obstructions to the navigation of 
the Hudson River, Sir Henry Clinton, then in command of 
the British forces in New York, organized an expedition to 
capture all the forts, and to draw attention from Burgoyne, 
whom he believed to be on the point of capturing Albany. 
He embarked his forces at New York and gave out that he 
was only awaiting a favorable wind to sail on an expedition 
to the south. Information had not then reached him of St. 
Leger's defeat, nor that Burgoyne was already at that date 
closely pressed and found it very difficult to provide his 
armv with food. He did not believe him even to be in a 



126 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 dangerous condition and expected a brilliant victory from his 
reinforcements reaching him. 

In order to form an obstruction in the river to defend Fort 
Montgomery, a number of different plans were proposed. 
One of them was to form a boom or raft; constructed of four 
logs, fifty feet long, placed ten feet apart, with their butt 
ends pointed and armed w^ith iron, and framed together by 
three cross-pieces, the rafts so constructed to be placed fif- 
teen feet apart and connected by chains of 1^-inch iron. 
The rafts were to be anchored with their butts down-stream. 
In front of this boom, frames of timber made of pointed logs, 
fifteen feet long, framed together by two cross-beams and 
placed fifteen feet apart, and held together by a chain passing 
over them, were placed. The object of this structure was to 
receive and weaken the first shock of any vessel approaching, 
and so relieve the chain behind it. It had been proposed to 
use caissons, filled with stone, but this plan was abandoned. 
It was also proposed to use a chain instead of a boom, but 
finally the plan of a chain and boom was adopted, and to 
complete it expeditiousl}^, it was determined to use the chain 
that had formerly been used to obstruct the Sorel River, 
which is the outlet of Lake Champlain. The plan which 
was finally adopted was to use a chain which was floated on 
logs, joined together, with frames like those in the former 
plan, placed in front of them, to receive the first shock. The 
obstruction was secured to the shore at Fort Montgomery by 
means of a windlass. The ends of all the logs which formed 
the frames after they were anchored in front of the chains 
were pointed with iron. As the chain from the Sorel might 
not be obtained in time, if at all, as it might be needed at Ti- 
conderoga, the original plan of making a boom by connecting 
anchored rafts by chains, was finally adopted. The Continen- 
tal Congress resolved to erect fortifications at West Point, to 
defend the chain, to make Anthony's Nose, which commanded 
Fort Montgomery, secure, and to erect a small battery on the 
shore to defend the ends of the chain. 



Map No. 7. 




ATTACK ON THE FORTS. 127 

The Sorel chain was finally used as a part of the obstruc- 1'777 
tion. It was first placed in position in October, 1776. Owing 
to its great weight, the chain being 1800 feet long, it broke 
twice during its construction, at intervals of a few hours. 
The whole structure was removed to New Windsor and the 
necessary alterations in the floats made. The obstruction 
was then completed and placed in position in March,. 1777. 

On the 4th of October, as soon as the wind was favorable, 
with 4000 troops the British landed at Verplanck's Point, the 
garrison of which retreated. Putnam, instead of seeing that 
his position was threatened, thought the demonstration was 
against the forts on the east side of the river and that Fort 
Independence was in danger, and against the remonstrances 
of his officers, took from the garrison 1200 men to defend that 
fort. Even the next day, when the enemy crossed the river 
to Stony Point and were on their way to Forts Montgomery 
and Clinton, he did not believe himself mistaken. The result 
was that these forts were only half garrisoned, as they were de- 
pleted by Putnam and a large number of the men were away 
getting in their winter grain. Governor Clinton was not so 
easily deceived. As soon as he heard that the British fleet 
had come up to "Verplanck's Point, he adjourned the legisla- 
ture, then in session at Kingston. He had hardly time to 
collect 400 of the militia and with these and 500 regulars to 
attempt a defense. The British reached Fort Clinton at about 
5 P.M., and received a scornful refusal to surrender. At the 
same time Fort Montgomery was attacked by the British, 
aided by the vessels on the river. The British were repulsed 
three times, but as their numbers were five times greater than 
those of the garrison, who were mostly untrained militia, they 
finally surrendered. Some of the garrison were made pris- 
oners, but both of the commanders escaped. Governor 
George Clinton crossed the river in a boat, and General James 
Clinton, commander of Fort Clinton, forced his way to the 
rear. When Putnam ascertained his mistake, the enemy was 
already in possession of the forts. 



128 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 The Americans had two frigates, the Montgomery and the 
Congress, two row galleys, and an armed sloop above the 
chain. When the fort surrendered they slipped their cables 
and tried to escape up the river, but the wind was contrary, 
and when they found that capture was probable, they set their 
vessels on fire while the crews escaped. The vessels were 
under full sail. When the fire reached the cannon upon 
deck, the heat fired them, but their discharge did not seem to 
injure any one. The vessels burned until the fire communi- 
cated to the magazines, when they exploded. Lighted by the 
fiames from the burning vessels, those who escaped found 
their way to New Windsor, to which place General James 
Clinton also escaped. 

The garrison at Fort Constitution, reduced to a mere guard, 
fired on a white flag, the bearers of which carried a demand 
for surrender, and that night abandoned the fort. On the 
morning of the 8th, 2000 men under General Try on went up 
the river from Fort Montgomery, and landing on the east 
side, destroyed the fort, completing the destruction of the 
then fortresses in the Highlands. 

From here they expected to go on their way unmolested to 
join Burgoyne at Albany. They thought that he would 
already have been there for some time and that by the close 
of the year the entire rebellion would have been crushed by 
their obtaining control of the great water-way and the sever- 
ance of the colonies. 

The forts, stores, and obstructions, which had cost the 
Americans a quarter of a million, were destroyed in two days 
by the British. Up to this time West Point, which had so 
often been called the " key to the passage of the Highlands," 
had not received a penny of the money and not a shilling had 
been spent on the erection of a single battery there. 

The chain at Fort Montgomery was taken up and sent to 
England and from there to Gibraltar, where it was made use 
of in protecting the shipping. The British destroyed Fort 
Montgomery and Fort Constitution on the 6th of October, 



MOLLY PITCHER. 129 

1777. They repaired Fort Clinton and called it Fort Yauglin. 1777 
They occupied the forts only twenty days and then destroyed 
their Fort Vaughn and retreated to New York, as they had 
just received the news of the surrender of Burgoyne and did 
not consider it safe to occupy their position any longer. The 
chain as a defense was a failure, and with the destruction of 
the forts which were the key to the upper part of the river, 
the passage of it was once more open. 

It was at Fort Clinton in October, 1777, that Molly Pitcher, 
now famous in Revolutionary history, first appeared. When 
the British scaled the parapet of that fort, her husband, who 
was an artilleryman, dropped his port-fire and ran. Molly 
caught it up and discharged the last gun the Americans fired. 
In the following year, at Monmouth, Molly's husband was 
killed at his post, and the officer in command, having no one 
competent to fill his place, ordered the gun withdrawn. 
Molly had been to the spring to get water for the soldiers. 
She saw her husband fall as she came from the spring and 
heard the order to withdraw the gun. Dropping the bucket, 
she seized the rammer, determined that the gun should not 
be put out of service for want of a person to fill her husband's 
place, and vowed that she would avenge his death. She re- 
mained at the position until the close of the battle and served 
with great courage and fidelity, attracting the attention of 
every one near her. On the following morning, General 
Greene presented her, all covered with blood and grime as 
she was, to General Washington, who, in admiration of her 
bravery, appointed her a sei'geant, and at the close of the war 
recommended her name to be placed on the half-pay list for 
life. She always appeared with the army in costume, wearing 
an artilleryman's coat over her dress, and a cocked hat. She 
was a great favorite with every one and was always called 
" Captain Molly." After the war she lived near West Point 
and died in 1789. 

To further defend the Hudson River obstructions were 
placed at Pollopel's Island, just below Fishkill, which consisted 



130 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 of cheveaux de /rise, formed of square cribs of timber, filled 
witli stones, from the top of wliich, at an angle of nearly 
forty-five degrees, logs, pointed with iron, extended, so as to 
reach within a few feet of the surface of the water. They 
were sunk at short distances across the channel, so as to pre- 
sent to approaching vessels a continuous row of spears, which 
would pierce their bottoms and cause them to sink. The 
breaking of the chain at Fort Montgomery before its com- 
pletion led the secret committee to adopt this plan. It was 
found that the width of the river from shore to shore, at this 
place, was 8500 feet, and the channel of the river was eighty 
feet deep up to near the shore of the island. The main chan- 
nel is near the center of the river and is about 530 feet broad. 
The water shallows gradually to the shore on both sides. 
This seemed to be the only place where such kind of an ob- 
struction was possible. The Convention of New York was 
very earnest in urging Congress to obstruct the river in this 
way, but as there were all kinds of delays and the work was 
not undertaken by the secret committee, the Convention of 
New York, on the 27th of November, passed a resolution, 
proposing to do the work at its "own hazard and expense," 
and offered General Schuyler, who had first suggested this 
kind of obstruction, the superintendence of the work. A 
letter was written to General Schuyler, asking him to accept, 
and another tu General Washington, asking him to confirm 
the appointment of General Schuyler. 

About this time the secret committee held a conference with 
General Heath, in command at Peekskill, and General Clinton 
in command of the Highlands, and as the result of this confer- 
ence, the Convention, at its session on November 30th, was in- 
formed that the obstructions proposed at Pollopel's Island were 
practicable. They then declared themselves ready to act, as 
they had the power to take the construction of the obstruc- 
tion on themselves. It was determined to place 500 men 
under the command of General Clinton at that point, and to 
commence the work at once, in case they could be provided 



burgoyne's difficulties. 131 

with three hundred axes. The other tools had been fur- 1777 
nished by the Continental stores. The Convention at once 
resolved to furnish three hundred felling axes " by purchase 
or collection," and the right " to impress the same when there 
is more than one in a family " was given to its officers. Timber 
which had been collected at Poughkeepsie for the Fort Mont- 
gomery obstruction was ordered to be immediately rafted to 
New Windsor. Three tons of 1^- and If-inch iron were 
ordered, and £400 were appropriated to supply it. This 
action rendered the appointment of General Schuyler unneces- 
sary, and he was requested to confer with General Clinton. 
The place selected for the construction of the cheveaux defrise 
was New Windsor. At a meeting of the Convention on 
April 26, 1777, £2000 sterling were appropriated for the 
work. The works were not completed until the following 
year, in the spring of 1778, and were not called upon to be of 
any service. 

The Hudson Eiver was now open. The battle of Benning- 
ton, instead of being a great assistance to him, as Burgoyne 
had hoped, had been a disaster. He had sent Lieutenant- 
Colonel Baum, one of his best officers, with 500 picked men, 
and 100 Indians, had reinforced him with Lieutenant-Colonel 
Breymann, two battalions, and two cannon. In the expecta- 
tion that he would meet a great number of Tories, he had 
sent a skeleton regiment, fully officered, which he expected 
would return more than full, but he did not get a single vol- 
unteer. Baum had been killed, the Indians had deserted, 
and not more than 100 men had returned to him, and he had 
lost 1000 stand of arms. He was now in need of reinforce- 
ments. He was also obliged to depend for all his supplies 
on shipments from England, by way of Quebec. His orders 
to advance left him no discretion; he could not retreat, 
though he might have, if he had acted in time, and taken a 
different route, still have reached Albany. He needed stores 
for thirty days. How could he collect them ? In order to 
advance at all, he had to drag nearly two hundred boats over 



132 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 two long portages. The greatest distance he could hope to 
make was one mile a da_y, but he had no alternative but to 
move on. Some of his best troops had been annihilated by 
farmers, gathered suddenly, and he now asked himself whether 
what had happened to them might not be the fate of his whole 
army. 

To prepare for his march, on August 1-ith Burgoyne had 
built a raft bridge over the Hudson at Saratoga, which was 
afterward carried away by a rise in the river. His forces, 
however, were dispirited by their defeats. The ranks of the 
patriots were swelled by the news of his disaster at Ben- 
nington and bv the report of the murder of Jane McCrea, 
It was necessarv that he should do something to restore 
the British prestige, and he hoped that the southern com- 
manders would produce a diversion on the Hudson which 
would draw away some of the American forces from his 
front. His advance was, however, slow ; his march was im- 
peded in every direction. He could trust neither the In- 
dians nor the Canadians. Ticonderoga, which had been gar- 
risoned by three hundred regulars, had been recaptured with 
all its arms and stores by the Americans, who had burned the 
flotilla. A rapid movement of General Lincoln in his rear, and 
the danger of having his supplies cut off, forced Bui'govne 
to move forward. He could not retreat. Despondent himself 
and his forces dispirited, he was forced to move toward the 
position which had been carefully selected and well chosen 
by the Americans. He withdrew his forces from the north, 
abandoned his communications wdth Canada, built a bridge of 
boats to replace his rafts which had drifted away, crossed the 
Hudson on September 14th and strongly fortified himself at 
Saratoga, The American army, under General Gates, had 
been organized liy Schuyler, and was the most efficient and 
best disciplined that had been raised. Owing to the gener- 
osity of France, who had added largely to the gi'ants of New 
York, it was well equipped. It was somewhat larger than that 
of Burgoyne. On the right bank of the Hudson were ten 



Map No. 8. 



BATTLE 

or 

BEMIS HEIGHTS 

Sept. 19*1777 

S.BBRowen De 
r I Ameviccins 

Pfepsred For The life of 
Mej. Gen. T'oferson." 




BATTLE OF BEMIS' HEIGHTS. 133 

thousand men, including the militia, some of whom were vet- 1777 
erans. The right wing, on the opposite side, commanded by 
General Lincoln, who was very popular, was made up of New 
England militia fresh from Bennington. It was composed 
chiefly of Paterson's, Nixon's, and Glover's brigades. They 
began the advance on the 8th of September ; on the 12th they 
occupied an elevated position called, after the name of a man 
who kept a tavern there. " Bemis' Heights." It is a series of 
low hills at right angles to the Hudson, and almost reaching its 
western bank. The line reached across the low ground to the 
river. They were stationed there to defend the river and its ap- 
proaches. Bemis' Heights is nine miles east of Saratoga, and is 
about half-way between the villages of Schuylerville and Still- 
water. It had been fortified by Kosciusko, and by September 
15th the works were nearly completed. General Gates had con- 
nected the camp with the east side of the Hudson by a floating 
bridge, to facilitate the crossing of reinforcements if they should 
be found to be necessary. This bridge was defended by a water 
battery, which also commanded the east shore of the river. 

On the 14th and 15th General Paterson was brigadier of the 
day at Stillwater. On the 19th of September Burgoyne made the 
attack which resulted in the battle of Freeman's Farm. Gen- 
eral Paterson, with his brigade of four Massachusetts regiments, 
with Glover's and Nixon's, which were in the right wing, was 
held in reserve. During the action one of his regiments was 
detached to the left wing, and did efiicient service. Ten of 
his men were killed and one of his officers. Major Lithgow, was 
wounded. The left wing, with this regiment, which was nearly 
one third of General Gates' forces, which did the main fighting, 
checked with 1550 men the advance of the enemy, who many 
times outnumbered them, and frustrated their plan of attack. 
On the 21st a message from Sir H. Clinton in New York reached 
Burgoyne's camp telling him of the plans of attack on the 
lower Hudson, and asking him how long he could hold out. 
He replied, until October 12th. But although the English in 
New York opened the Hudson, it was of no use to Burgoyne. 
Dm'ing the weeks that followed, the Massachusetts regiments 



134 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 were constantly engaged, and won for themselves, as did also 
their commander, just praise. The series of engagements 
which took place have been given various names by differ- 
ent writers. By those engaged in them they are called, in 
their coiTcspondence, the battles of Bemis' Heights, because 
they were fought on those hills. They are in the town of 
Stillwater, so the engagements were called after the town; 
but Burgoyne was at Saratoga, and the surrender was made 
there. The town is also in the county of Saratoga. Hence 
these series of engagements are known under the fom' dif- 
ferent names of Bemis' Heights, on which there were two 
sharp engagements, Stillwater, Saratoga, and Freeman's Farm, 
on which the first of the three engagements was fought. On 
the 22d of September General Lincoln took command of 
the right wing, replacing Arnold, who, in a moment of 
anger, asked leave to go to headquarters and join Washing- 
ton, wliich was granted. He, however, did not go, but re- 
mained in camp a disturbing element, to perform acts of great 
bravery in the battle of Bemis' Heights. 

" Gen. Gates Camp near Stillwater, 

" Sept 22cl 1777— 

"Immediately upon Gen. Lincoln's arrival in camp he rec'd com- 
mand of the right wing consisting of Nixon's, Paterson's, and Glover's 
Brigades, with the eastern militia. Gen. Lincoln had no immediate 
share in the action at Bemis Heights, Oct 7th because the right wing 
remained at their lines to defend the river side of the American en- 
campment — " * 

The second battle of Bemis' Heights occurred on October 
7th. f Its object was to secure a retreat for Burgoyne, either by 
forcing a way through the American lines or so to cripple that 
array that a retreat for the British would be practicable. The 
defense of the riverside was ofhcially assigned to the right wing. 
The first fire of the British was too high, and did little or no 

* " Life of General Lincoln," by Francis Bo wen, Sparks' " Am. Biog- 
raphies,"' 2d series, vol. xiii. f Map No. 9, 



Map No. 9. 




SECOND BATTLE OF BEMIS" HEIGHTS. 185 

damage. The Americans rushed on the enemy's batteries '^~'^'^ 
with great spirit. They were taken and retaken, until at last 
the British were forced to abandon them, and a retreat was 
ordered. Arnold could restrain himself no longer. Without 
any authority he assumed command. The soldiers recognized 
him, cheered him as he passed, and followed him wherever he 
led. He was very popular with them, and as he had only a 
few days before commanded them, they never questioned his 
authority. Paterson's and Glover's brigades were leading the 
troops ; he took command of them and assaulted the in- 
trenchments of Earl Balcarras, but as he encountered a strong 
abattis he was driven back under a heavy fii'e of grape and 
musket-ball. Meeting Larned's brigade, he took command of 
it also, and thus with these portions of Paterson's, Glovei^s, 
and Larned's brigades he threw himself at the head of the 
regiment in front, and so inspu-ed the troops by his personal 
bravery that they rallied and attacked the great redoubt with 
such determination that in a single charge he drove the light 
infantry of Balcarras at the point of the bayonet from the 
abattis into the redoubt itself, where, exposed to the cross-fires 
of the two armies, he carried the works. Then meeting with 
other troops, he took command of them also, and captured 
the other intrenchments of the British, and was wounded just 
as he had secured the victory. Thus an officer who had no 
command won " one of the most spirited and important battles 
of the Revolution." At night General Lincoln's command, in 
which General Paterson was, relieved the troops who had done 
most of the fighting, and marched to the upper fork of the 
North Ravine shown on map No. 9. On the 8th General 
Paterson went to reheve General Morgan, who was cutting off 
all BurgojTie's foraging parties. That night Burgoyne aban- 
doned his hospital and unnecessary baggage and retreated, 
in a hea\y rain, across the Fishkill River. The bateaux con- 
taining his supplies were under constant fire. The point 
where he had first crossed the river was well guarded by the 
American forces. On the 10th, in a heavy rain. General Pat- 
erson frustrated the plans of the British, which, if they had 



136 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 been successful, would have opened a way for Burgoyne to 
Albany, so that he would have probably escaped, a misfortune 
which would have completely demoralized our army. 

On the morning of the 11th General Gates was informed 
that Burgoyne had already started in the hope of being able 
to reach Fort Edward, leaving only a rear-guard in camp. A 
portion of the army came near being captured, but was saved, 
not without some loss, to accomplish the maneuvers which 
forced Bui'gojaie to surrender, by news brought by a British 
deserter, who informed them that Burgoyne's entire army 
was in battle array on the hill. The Americans finally occu- 
pied the heights in three quarters of a cii'cle around Burgoyne. 
Burgoyne was harassed in every direction, and his army had 
no rest. In the afternoon Generals Poor's and Paterson's bri- 
gades came over E'ish Creek with some field pieces and joined 
the troops on that side. 

On the 12th Burgoyne ascertained that his retreat to the 
north had been cut off. His bridge of boats was commanded 
by the American guns ; his supplies were exhausted ; some of 
his best officers had been kiUed and others taken prisoners ; 
his troops were worn out, for they had had no rest for more 
than a week ; they were under short rations, and were, more- 
over, dispirited. He now abandoned aU hope of receiving the 
reinforcements which he had been anxiously waiting for. On 
the 13th he sent a flag of truce to General Gates, asking for terms 
of capitulation. That night dispatches were received by Bur- 
goyne, giving information of the capitulation of Forts Clinton 
and Montgomery, and that reinforcements had been sent to him, 
but it was too late. On the 16th General Gates reported 13,216 
men fit for duty under Paterson, Glover, Nixon, Poor, Larned, 
and others. Outgeneraled and completely defeated, Biu'gojTie 
surrendered 5763 men on October 17, 1777. 

General de Riedesel, the commander of the German troops, 
ordered that no colors should be surrendered with the arms, 
but that the staves should be burned and the colors carefully 
packed up and placed in his baggage : and they were often 
sewed up in a mattress and were a constant source of anxiety 



Map No. 10. 




bukgovne's surrexder. 137 

to liim until his departure from this country in 1783. One of l"^?? 
the conditions of surrender was that the troops should be 
sent to England by way of Boston. After their arrival at 
Cambridge, Congress refused to ratify that article of the com- 
pact, and they were obliged, contrary to the articles of sur- 
render, to remain in this country as prisoners of war. They 
were scattered through the States, many of them going as far 
south as Virginia. This question was decided mainly by the 
influence of Lafayette, who foresaw that if these troops were 
released, in case of a war between France and England they 
might be employed against France, and he wished to prevent 
this. To overcome any hesitation which Congress might 
have, Lafayette referred to the example of the English in the 
Seven Years' War, in relation to the capitulation of Closter- 
seven. It had first been proposed by General de Riedesel 
to Burgoyne that he should insert in the terms of surrender 
that the troops should give up their arms and go to Canada 
and promise not to fight against America again. This w^as 
rejected by Burgoyne on the ground that General Gates 
would not accept it, but it was ascertained afterwards that, on 
account of the great scarcity of provisions, General Gates 
would have accepted it very gladlj^, in which case the troops 
would have been free to be used again. 

Congress ignored the articles of surrender of Burgoyne 
granting the prisoners a free passage to England, and as this 
part of the terms of surrender was not ratified, the troops were 
held as prisoners of war. The greater part of them, from the 
7th of November, 1777, were quartered on Winter, Prospect, 
and Cobble Hills, near Boston. The prisoners were com- 
manded by their own officers. Two thousand three hundred 
British, under General Phillips, camped on Prospect Hill, and 
1900 Germans, under General de Riedesel, were quartered on 
Winter Hill. During the winter of 1777-78 they were under 
guard of General Heath. They were not well cared for. and 
were quartered in the old barracks left after the siege of Boston 
the previous year. Their quarters were very miserable, and 



138 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON, 

1777 the soldiers suffered severely from cold. During all the time 
that they remained in this vicinity they were in a condition 
bordering on revolt. It was only the good judgment of those 
who were in command that prevented them from open mu- 
tiny. In November, 1778, they were removed to Rutland, 
and later to Virginia, where the larger part of them merged 
themselves with the population and never returned to Eng- 
land. The following spring, Burgoyne was allowed to return 
to England, as a prisoner of war, on parole. It was under 
such conditions that he became a member of Parliament, and 
was always ready to defend the American cause. 

During all this time General Paterson and his whole com- 
mand acted with the most distinguished bravery. His soldiers 
were full of courage and in the highest spirits. His ofl&cers 
were determined and well supported and did terrible execu- 
tion against the enemy, and his brigade helped to turn what 
might have been a disastrous defeat into a glorious victory. 
He narrowly escaped death, his horse having been shot under 
him by a cannon-ball. After the battle, his brigade, with a 
militia regiment, which had enlisted for a short period only, 
was allowed a brief period of rest, and were then, with other 
brigades, ordered south, and took up their march towards 
New Windsor. 

On October 31st General Putnam wrote to General Wash- 
ington from Fishkill : 

" Dear Genl : 

" Genis Poor's, Warner's, Learnard's, Paterson's Brigades, Col. Van 
Schaick's Regt. & Col. Morgan's Riflemen, amounting in the whole to 
five thousand & Seven hundred men, inclusive of Col. Morgan's Rifle- 
men, who are directed to March immediately to join you, are on their 
way here from the Northward."* 

On the same day General Glover's and General Paterson's 
brigades marched down and encamped at Quemens. 

On November 2d Colonel Hamilton, who had on March 1, 
1777, been appointed aid-de-camp to General Washington, 

* ■' Correspondence and Journals of S. I. Webb." 



GENERAL PATERSON AT STILLWATER. 139 

wrote from headquarters at Fishkill : " General Paterson's, 1777 
Glover's, and Nixon's brigades, and Colonel Warner's Moun- 
tain Boys to remain in and about Albany ; barracks build- 
ing for them." 

On October 28, 1777, General Paterson presided over a 
court-martial at Stillwater. He tlien started with his brigade 
for the lower Hudson. It was with the greatest difficulty 
that transportation could be found for them, and then only 
enough to carry them to New Windsor, Orange County, 
above West Point, where they arrived on November 7th. 
His brigade was so far reduced in numbers at that time that 
it contained only 600 men fit for duty, and about 200 militia 
whose term of service had nearly expired. 

On November 7, 1777, at Quemans the orders were : 

"7 Nov. This morning at roll call there were orders read to the 
regt. to hold ourselves in readiness to march. Col. Sheperds to join 
Genl Paterson's brigade, and that Bd to embark this evening, and a 
militia regt. to join our brigade." * 

On November 10th Colonel Hamilton wrote : 

" New Windsor, 10 November, 1777. 
"Dear Sir 

"I arrived here last night from Albany. Having given General 
Gates a little time to recollect himself, I renewed my remonstrances on 
the necessity and propriety of sending you more than one brigade of 
the three he had detained with him, and finally prevailed upon him to 
give orders for Glovei**s, in addition to Paterson's brigade, to march 
this way. As it was thought conducive to expedition to send the 
troops by water, as far as it could be done, I procured all the vessels 
that could be had at Albany fit for the purpose, but could not get more 
than sufficient to take in Paterson's brigade. It was embarked the 
7th instant, and I expected would have been here before this, but the 
wind has been contrary, though they must, in all probabihty, be here 
to day. General Glover's brigade marched at the same time on the 
east side of the river, the road being much better there than on this 
side. I am this moment informed that one sloop, with a part of Pat- 
erson's is arrived, and that the others are in sight. They will imme- 
diately proceed by water to King's Ferry, and thence take the shortest 
route to you." 

♦"Journal of Ebenezer Webb," Massachusetts Historical Society 
Proceedings, 1890-1, second series, vol. vi. 



140 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1777 On the 18th General Paterson wrote to General Washing- 
ton as follows : 

" Tu Bis llxccileiicij Genl Wushiiujton* 
"Sir 

"Colo. Hamilton directed me when I arrived nigh the River to send 
an Express to Head Quarters for your Orders, and wait at the Ferry until 
he returned. I am now at Lamberton and expect to be at the Ferry on 
thursday Morning without fail. Mi". Haskill an Adjutant of my Brigade 
I send to you for Directions and Shall wait at the Ferry until his Return. 
Generals Poor & Glovers Brigade are just in my Rear Genl. Larned 
took the road thro' Sussex Expect he will be at the Ferry as soon as 
myself. Capt Gibbs desired me to inform your Excellency that he was 
waiting at Morris Town until the whole had passed to hurry them on as 
fast as possible 

" I am Sir with respect your Excellency 

" Most obedient humble Servt 

" Jno Paterson. 

" Tuesday three Clock 18th Nov. 1777 " 

On November 19th, General Washington wrote to Major- 
General Putnam : 

"Head-Quarters, Whitemarsh, 
" 19 November, 1777. 
"Dear Sir, 

' ' I cannot but say there has been more delay in tlie march of the 
troops, than I think necessary ; and I could wish that in future my 
orders may be immediately complied with, without arguing upon the 
propriety of them. If any accident ensues from obeying them, the 
fault will lie upon me and not upon you. I have yet heard nothing of 
Poor's or Paterson's Brigade — or of Colo. Chas. Webb's Regiment. 
Scammel's Brigade will be at Cor3'ells ferry tonight or tomorrow and 
Lee's & Jackson's Regiments arrived here this day. Be pleased to in- 
form me particularly of the corps, that have marched and are to 
inarch, and by what routes they are directed, that I may know how to 
despatch orders to meet them upon the road if necessary. 

" I am, &c., 

" Go Washington." f 

On November 22, 1777, General Paterson went into camp 
at Whitemarsh, New York. On the 23d Washington re- 
ported to Congress that the regiments were sadly in want of 
shoes, stockings, breeches, and blankets, and that the brigades 

* From the collection of E. G. Dreer, Esq., of Philadelphia. 
\ Correspondence of Samuel Blackley Webb. 



CARE FOR OLD SOLDIERS. 141 

of both Paterson and Poor together did not amount to more 1777 
than 2300 or 2400 men. 

One of the painful cases of discharge is shown by the 
order * given below and its endorsement : 

''Joseph Morse a Soldier in Colo Marshalls Regiment being under 
peculiar Circumstances is by leave of his Excellency Genl Washington 
discharged the Service of the United States and from doing any Duty in 
said Regiment has leave to pass from Camp to Boston 

''Given under my hand in Camp this 7th Day of March 1778 

" Jno Paterson B Genl" 

(On the reverse.) 
" Dear Sir 

" The Case of Mr Morse is very particular and His Excellency there- 
fore desires that you may do what you think proper in this K he leaves 
the Service as a private Soldier, which is a station below his merit, he 
will come in, in some other way 

"I am Dear Sir 

"Your obedt Servt 

" Tench Tilghman. 
" Hbad Quartehs 
"7th March 1778" 

Extract from a letter, dated Norwich, November 28th, 
which appeared in the Independent Chronicle of Boston on 
December 4th : 

" I left Head-Quarters Thursday morning, 20th instant, on which 
day there seemed to be a general movement of the army ; I will give 
you the account as nigh as I could come at it from the best authority, 
and from my own eye-sight, viz. . . . On the 21st, I met Generals 
Paterson, Learned, and Poor's brigades, at 7 o'clock in the morning, 
within 16 miles of Head-Quarters, where they expected to arrive by 
sun-set ; they had marched 20 miles a day for 3 days going." f 

In a letter "to the President of Congress," dated "Head- 
quarters, AVhitemarsh, 23 November, 1777," Washington 
writes: "Generals Poor and Paterson, with their brigades, 
and Colonel Bailey with Learned's, are now in camp. The 
last arrived on Friday evening, the other two in the course 
of yesterday. I have not yet obtained returns of their 
strength ; but from the accounts of the officers they will 

♦Revolutionary Rolls, vol. xlv., p. 878. 

f American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. , 



142 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 amount in the whole to 2300 or 2400 rank and file. But I 
find many of them are very deficient in the articles of shoes, 
stockings, breeches, and blankets." * 

The British campaign for the possession of the Hudson 
Eiver ended with the surrender of Burgoyne. It had lasted 
from May to October. During that time the British had lost 
some of their ablest officers and ten thousand men, killed or 
prisoners. The river, except at its mouth, was still in the 
possession of the Americans. The army which had won the 
victory, as it was composed largely of militia, disbanded 
almost as quickly as it had been organized. All that re- 
mained of it was a handful of enlisted Continental Eegulars. 
The work of organizing a new army had to be commenced 
over again at once for the next campaign, although the close 
of the year 1777 found the entire country, except Long 
Island, Staten Island, Newport, New York, and Philadelphia, 
in the possession of the patriots. 

As the result of Burgoyne's surrender the British Govern- 
ment, in the hope of regaining the colonies, abandoned every 
measure for which they had commenced the war. On Feb- 
ruary 17, 1778, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, the act 
taxing tea, the repeal of the charter of Massachusetts, and re- 
nounced forever the right to raise a revenue in America. 
They gave power to commissioners to suspend any act of Parli- 
ament passed since 1763, and gave unconditional amnesty to 
all political offenders. The bill received the king's signature 
on March 11th. Commissioners were at once sent out to make 
arrangements for a treaty of peace. But it was too late. Con- 
gress refused to receive any proposition from them, or to en- 
tertain any suggestions whatever, unless the independence of 
the United States was previously acknowledged. The people 
everywhere received their proposals with derision and con- 
tempt, and even burned them under the gallows. The Ameri- 
cans were now determined to be independent of Great Britain. 
The war that had been previously waged to gain redress for 
wrongs now became distinctly a war for independence. 
* Ford's " Writings of General Washington," voL vi., p. 219. 



GENERAL PATERSON's BRIGADE FOR 1777-80. 143 



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CHAPTER Y. 

VALLEY FORGE AND MONMOUTH. 

1778 During the winter of 1777-8 General Paterson was at 
Valley Forge, and was one of the wisest advisers of General 
Washington. He was with Grover and Lamed in General 
Lincoln's command, which numbered 1326 men and officers. 
It was a winter of great suffering, but was borne bravely. 
The army had neither sufficient clothing to protect them from 
the bitter cold, nor sufficient to eat. 

The problems which Washington had to solve during the 
next few months were, to prevent the British from leaving 
Philadelphia, and to keep his own army, which was neither 
sufficiently clothed nor housed, together. Although the army 
were in a wooded country, they received the order to build 
cabins, with the openly expressed opinion that it was im- 
possible under the existing circumstances, to house the army, 
in such a way as to afford them sufficient shelter. When 
they came to carry out the plans which had been made 
for the camp, no one was more astonished than the soldiers 
themselves to find how quickly the trees were converted 
into log cabins. They were not comfortably housed, how- 
ever. The Quartermaster-General had neglected his duty, 
and had not provided the supplies he might have done. 
Congress had done nothing. Gates, who, following Schuy- 
ler's plans, had defeated Burgoyne, was so impressed with 
his greatness that he ignored Schuyler, and did not even 
mention Arnold and Morgan, who had done so much towards 
the victory. He reported directly to Congress, ignoring 

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TRIALS AT VALLEY FORGE. 145 

Washington, who heard of the surrender through private 1'''78 
sources and was obliged to ask Gates for information. 
Gates knew that Washington was in great need of reinforce- 
ments, but he kept his army idle at Saratoga. Washington 
was obliged to send a special messenger for Morgan and his 
riflemen, and when they did come they arrived too late. As 
Gates had displaced Schuyler, he now thought that he could 
supersede Washington, and he entered into a cabal, known as 
" the Conway Cabal," to effect it. At one time he seemed likely 
to gain his end, but, fortunately for the country, he failed. 
Thus some of the officers, upon whom Washington should have 
been able to rely, were conspiring to supersede him. Washing- 
ton, fearing that publicity might give information to the enemy, 
did his duty silently, his heart bleeding for the sufferings 
which he could not relieve. His efforts to alleviate their con- 
dition were constant, while the men themselves acted like 
heroes, for it requires more courage to bear such ills every 
day, than to perform acts of valor under the impulse of battle. 
The inefficiency of both the Quartermaster and tlie Commis- 
sariat Department was all the greater since Congress had seen 
lit to change their organization and had filled the offices with 
men incompetent to do the duty, so that for a time these de- 
partments fell into almost hopeless confusion. When, on 
December 23d, 1777, Washington had been obliged to write 
to Congress that the army had neither sufficient clothing or 
blankets, and that for the want of shoes the route to their 
quarters could actually be traced in the snow by the blood in 
their footprints, " hogsheads of shoes, stockings, and clothing 
were lying at different points on the roads and in the woods, 
perishing for want of teams, or money to pay the teamsters." 
If at that time the British, whose entire time and thoughts 
were taken up with pleasure and dissipation in Philadelphia, 
had attacked, there would have been hardly 2000 men fit to 
oppose them. But this was not all. Brave and efficient 
officers were not remembered. Their juniors were promoted 
over their heads. One of the worst cases was that of Bene- 



146 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 diet Arnold. It is no excuse for his conduct, but there is 

little doubt that the seeds of that dissatisfaction, which eventu- 
ally made him a traitor, were sown by the repeated want of 
recognition which he suffered here and elsewhere. 

The camp was turned into a military school for oflEicers and 
men by Baron Steuben. Besides tactics, the men learned 
faith, both in the cause and their commander, who shared 
every privation with them, and this faith, with the military 
discipline, led to the subsequent victory of that winter. 
General Paterson, who had come from Saratoga, was every- 
where, when there was any duty to be done, and was always 
efficient. At the express wish of Washington and under the 
orders of General Green, on January 20, 1778, he undertook 
the superintendence of the fortifications of the left wing, 
which he did very efficiently. The following were his orders : 

" Valley Forge, January 20th, 1778. 
"Genl. Paterson is kind enough to undertake the Superintendence 
of the Fortifications of the Left Wing. All the men not on Duty in the 
respective Brigades in this wing are to parade every morning at 
9 o'clock, to be employed in the Fortifications of the Camp under the 
Genls directions. Each Brigade is to furnish a Field ofl&cer to comd the 
Fatigue parties. All officers not upon duty under the rank of a Field 
officer are to turn out with the men. His Excellency the Comdr in 
Chief Desires the officers to exert themselves to put the Camp in a 
Defenceable co-ndition as soon as may be."* 

In the meantime France, who had all along been friendly 
to the colonies and hostile to Great Britain, saw her oppor- 
tunity. If the conciliatory measm*es which had been proposed 
were successful, this would be lost, and on the fith of Febru- 
ary, 1778, France signed a treaty with the United States. The 
situation in England was desperate. She was piling up a debt 
at the rate of nearly one million pounds sterling a week. By 
the treaty she had recently made she could hire no more troops 
in Europe. Some of the Puritans were disgusted with an alli- 
ance with a Roman Catholic power, which had let loose the 
Indians on their frontier, and from this dissatisfaction Parlia- 

* General Greene's orders as given in Colonel Febiger's MS. Order 
Book, quoted in " Yale in the Revolution," p. 84. 



THE ENGLISH BECOME CONCILIATORY. 1-iT 

ment hoped to gain something ; so on April 7th the Dnke of 1778 
Richmond gave notice that he should introduce a bill for the 
immediate withdrawal of all the forces in the colonies, and to 
make peace on any terms that Congress would dictate. In 
contending against this measure, Lord Chatham was struck 
witli his death in the House of Lords. The bill was not passed. 
The king was enraged at the defeat of Burgoyne, and he called 
on all loyal Englishmen to help him wipe out the national dis- 
grace. The army expected reinforcements. General Amherst, 
the king's military adviser, had recommended that forty thou- 
sand men be sent to America at once. The suggestion had 
been disapproved, but for a time enlistments were easily made. 
The Americans, however, had earnest friends in England, and 
among them were Fox, Burke, Richmond, and Chatham. 
Chatham's famous speech, "If I were an American as I am an 
EngUshman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country 
I never would lay down my arms — never, never, never," 
created great sympathy for the Americans held as prisoners 
of war, and subscriptions for theii* benefit were numerous 
and liberal. This sympathy and the French alliance caused 
Parliament to pass the conciliatory bills. While Parliament 
was talking softly the king and his ministers used no kindly 
phrases. They delayed the execution of the bills as far as they 
could. At length, when delay was no longer possible, they sent 
out commissions whose members were of the same mind as the 
king and his ministers. The bills were sent first in the expec- 
tation that they would pave the way for an amicable settlement 
favorable to England. They arrived in New York on the 14th 
of April, and were at once published by Governor Tryon. The 
effect which they produced was entirely unexpected. The Brit- 
ish troops were so enraged at the giving up of all that they had 
unsuccessfully fought for, that they threatened to mutiny if 
the provisions of the lulls were carried out. Wlien they were 
published outside of the British lines it was found that no one 
was conciliated. The provisions of the bills were not even 
looked upon as serious. The commission did not arrive until 
June. They had almost unlimited power to arrange terms of 



148 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 settlement. On the Gth of June Sir H. Clinton officially commu- 
nicated the biUs to Congress. On the 17th of June by a formal 
vote Congress refused to entertain any offers of conciliation 
from the royal commissioners, unless accompanied by an ac- 
knowledgment of independence and an immediate cessation of 
the war. It published the biUs of Parliament, which were every- 
where received with contempt, and in many towns were burned 
under the gallows. On July 2d, and again on July 18tli, they 
offered Congress complete independence in everything but for- 
eign affairs. These letters were not answered, and every at- 
tempt on the part of the commission to open negotiations was 
turned into ridicule. Enraged at their failure, they issued a 
proclamation asserting that an alliance between a Protestant 
and a Roman Catholic country was monstroiis. They declared 
that if the colonies did not submit within forty days, the w^hole 
object of the war should be to devastate the country. This 
proclamation was at once published by Congress, and was re- 
ceived everywhere with the scorn and derision it deserved. In 
many towns it was publicly burned by the hangman. In Octo- 
ber the commissioners returned to England, having lost any in- 
fluence they might have had, had they acted with less temper. 
Valley Forge is memorable, not only on account of the 
suffering endured there, but also for the cabals against "Wash- 
ington, and more than anything else, the inefficiency and mis- 
management of Congress. Congi-ess was in reality a body 
without power. It could advise the States, but it could not 
enforce taxation. It could not support the army. None of the 
States had raised their fuU quota, and there was nothing left 
for it but to raise money on promises to pay. It had ah-eady 
printed more than $40,000,000 v;orth of such promises, and 
during the first half of 1778 it issued $23,000,000 more. This 
paper was based on nothing, and consequently was worth 
little, and no law could give this fiat money intrinsic value 
which it never had. The country had lost faith in Congress, 
l)ut they had gained faith in Washington. The enthusiasm in 
the army for the man who had shared all their sufferings and 
privations, who from his simple uprightness of character had 



VALLEY FORGE. 149 

come out triumphant in spite of tlie cabals against him, 1778 
amounted to devotion. It had been a long, dreary winter, full 
of trials and unnecessary suffering, but when spring came 
the army had forgotten their privations, while they remem- 
bered with pride the \dctories of the previous year. Baron 
Steuben communicated to the army not only his enthusiasm, 
but imbued them with his principles. They became so well 
drilled that officers and men were confident of success. Wliile 
drilling the army Baron Steuben prepared a book on tactics, 
which continued in use long after his death, as it was so well 
adapted to our needs. He had the ability not only to teach 
others, but also to learn how to adapt the military principles 
of Europe to the condition of these soldiers. Notwithstand- 
ing the evils which resulted from the mismanagement of Con- 
gress, the army marched from its camp in the spring better 
and stronger than it had ever been before. 

During the campaigns of 1777, 11,000 of the 20,000 who 
were present at the surrender of Burgoyne, were militia 
called out to meet emergencies that were local, and they went 
back to their homes when these were over. There was no 
standing army of any size possible, in the face of the fact that 
the people feared that it might become not only a bnrden but 
a danger to their liberties, and they fully supported Congress 
in the way the array was managed, which prevented the form- 
ing of experienced officers and men. The misery of Valley 
Forge had resulted from gi'oss mismanagement. On Decem- 
ber 23d Washington had 2898 men " unfit for duty because 
they were barefoot and otherwise naked " ; for want of blank- 
ets they were ol)liged " to sit up all night by fires, instead of 
taking comfortable rest, in a natural and common way." 

On February 11th General Paterson issued the following 
order : 

" Notice is hereby given to all officers, and soldiers of my Brigade 
who have no limited time of absence, and all such whose Furloughs 
are out, likewise those who have been in the Enemys hand, as Prison- 
ers — and since returned home, — are ordered forthwith, to repair to 
their several Regiments at Head Quarters in Pennsylvania — without 
any further delay — on penalty if Soldiers to be Dealt with as De- 



150 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 serters, — if oflScers as Disobeyers of Geni Orders — by order of Gen} 
Washington, 

" Jno Paterson, 

" B. Genl" 
" Camp at Valley Forge ) 
" nth Feby 1778. '• * j 

On March 29th the following orders were issued : 

" Head Quarters. Valley Forge, 
" March 29, 1778. 
*' The following oflBcers are appointed Brigade Inspectors, and are to 
be obeyed and respected as such in their several respective Brigades. 
Col. Tupper, in General Paterson's Brigade." f 

The following parade orders were issued in March : 

" The Brigades of Glover, Learned, Paterson, Weedon & Mulen- 
berg, will be paraded on Glover's Parade at 4 o clock precisely. Glover 
will form two Battallions the others each one — Each Battallion con- 
sisting of 5 Capt. 11 Subalterns (escorted by the colours) 27 Non Com 
Off. & 80 Files an Adjutant of each Battallion will attend on Horse- 
back. Exclusive of the above the two Battallions of Glover & the 
Batt of Learned will parade a Detachmt of 1 Cap 3 Subs. 9 N com 1 
Drum & 60 Privates. Patersons Weedon & Mulenberg will furnish 
the same number the 1st Detachment will parade on the right & the 
2d Detachm' on the left of the Whole. 

" The several Inspectors & Brigade Inspectors of the Army will at- 
tend at the abo^e time & place." X 

On March 26th the office of major-general of the daj was 
dispensed with. The parole was " Mingham," and the coun- 
tersigns " Exter " and " Eaton." On the 19th of April General 
Washington issued the following orders : 

" Head Quarters, Valley Forge, 
"April 19th, 1778. 
" The Sub-Inspectors will each superintend the discipline of each 
Brigade accoi-ding to the following Division, viz : Mr. Trenant, Wood- 
ford's, Scott's and Mcintosh's ; Lieut. -Col. Brooks, 1st and 2nd Penn- 
sylvania, Poor's and Glover's; Lieut.-Col. Davis, Larned's, Paterson's, 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 

f Revolutionary Orders of General Washington. 

X American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



SPRING AT VALLEY FORGE. 151 

Weeden's and Mulileuburgh's ; Lieut. -Col. Barber, Maxwell's, late 1778 
Conway's Huntington's and Varnum's." * 

With the advent of spring, new courage was born in the 
hearts of both officers and men. The British, and the powers 
of Europe generally, were sure that such a " rabble," as they 
called the American army enlisted only for short periods 
and constantly made over, could never make headway against 
disciplined troops. They looked on the result of the battle 
of Bennington as "an incident only." They considered the 
defeat of Burgoyne as " one of the chances of war." They did 
not yet realize that the Americans were fighting for principle. 
They fortunately did not know of the real state of the army 
at Valley Forge. Washington, with the unselfishness which 
characterized him, kept his personal annoyances from the 
public, and so prevented the enemy from gaining any knowl- 
edge of the weakness and suffering of the army. These suf- 
ferings excite to-day our deepest sympathy, from the 
knowledge, that we now have, that they were wholly unneces- 
sary, and resulted entirely from incompetency and mismanage- 
ment. Many of the foreign officers who had obtained positions 
were an incumbrance. Others, like Lafayette, de Kalb, Steu- 
ben, and some others, were of the greatest service. The army, 
thanks to Steuben, was now well drilled, and was awaiting 
with impatience the order for a forward movement, which 
was soon to be given. 

General Sewal at Valley Forge records that on Sunday, 
May 10th, and again on Sunday, May 24th, Divine service 
was held in General Paterson's brigade. 

General Howe, the British commander, who had practically 
placed himself in the position of one defeated by his taking of 
Philadelphia, for " the rebel capital " was of no use as a base for 
military operations and only weakened the military force, as 
it had to be defended, was disgusted and convinced that the war 
was useless, and wanted to resign ; but our army was all ready 
for action. In April, 1778, at a council of war held to deter- 

* Revolutionary Orders of General Washington, American Antiqua- 
rian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



152 LIFE OF aiAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 mine wliat was to be done, there was a gi*eat variety of opin- 
ion as to the details, but a singular unanimity as to the fact 
that a vigorous campaign should be made. Some wanted to 
attack Philadelphia, which was evacuated without a blow as 
an untenable position on June 18, 1778 ; others wanted to at- 
tack New York, and others both places at once ; others had 
doubts of the advisability of any attack until the army should 
be strengthened or the British army indicate its plans ; but 
all agi-eed that vigorous measiu-es must be taken and that the 
army, both officers and men, had never been in a better con- 
dition. The officers were ordered in the early spring to pre- 
pare in the best way for an immediate and sudden movement. 
The evacuation of Philadelphia was equivalent to a victory 
and was regarded as such, and it was very desirable that the 
moral effect of it should be at once followed up. On April 
7th General Paterson was one of a general court-martial of 
which General Poor was president. On April 15, 1778, Gen- 
eral Gates was ordered to repair immediately to Fishkill, and 
to take command of aU the troops on the North River and the 
whole Northern Department. 

The news of the arrival of the French reinforcements, which 
had landed at Portland, Me., reached Valley Forge on the 7th 
of May, 1778. The same day the news of the destruction of 
the pubhc stores at Bordentown reached them, but the one 
more than counterbalanced the other. At nine o'clock on that 
morning the army was called to parade, and every demonstra- 
tion of joy, such as the beating of drums and the firing of can- 
non, was the order of the day. The parade was not one to 
attract a brilliant assemblage, but it aroused hope in the 
minds of the men and in the defenders of their liberties in a 
way that few things had done up to this time. The spirit of 
the army was and had been distinctly a religious one. It was 
a day of thanksgiving, and as it had been usual for the minis- 
ters in their various towns to announce to the people the 
things for which they were on special occasions to be thank- 
ful, the chaplains explained the occasion of their review to the 
soldiers. The treaty of alliance was read, and at its conclu- 



THE REVIEW AT VALLEY FORGE. 153 

siou huzzas were given for the King of France, for Washing- Vi 
ton, and for the RepubHc of the United States. Mihtaiy 
sahites were fired by the soldiers, and after these exhibitions 
of joy the review was terminated by the singing of " Praise 
God, from whom all blessings flow." 

There is an heroic side to this scene which we to-day find it 
difficult to appreciate. We are apt to think of the country united 
then as it is now, but the Continental Congress did not at that 
time represent the country as our government is now supposed 
to do. Its powers were not defined ; it was not at unity with 
itself ; it was full of cabals. It had not supported the army as 
it should have done. Its support had come from requisitions 
on the States, which had honored them as they could. In fact, 
the army was almost the only real representation of unity that 
there was, but it was constantly being disbanded and re-formed. 
The army had suffered gi'eat losses, and these were not so much 
those from death or wounds on the field of battle, as from sick- 
ness, produced by the negligence or incapacity of Congi-ess. 
The mortality was owing to exposure from want of proper equi- 
page and clothing, of privation and even starvation from an 
inefficient commissary department. It was now likely to fall 
between the illusory hopes of Congi*ess of an immediate ter- 
mination of the war owing to foreign intervention, and the 
recognition of the independence of the States by European pow- 
ers, and the fact that some of the States replied slowly to the 
requisitions made on them for men and supplies, as they rec- 
ognized that the struggle was not to terminate at once. Such 
a scene could only be possible when the men who made up the 
army were satisfied of the justice of their cause, and deter- 
mined with God's help to fight for it. Notwithstanding the 
cabals of individuals and the incapacity of their ralers, Con- 
gress itself had been moved by the sympathy shown to them 
by France and Spain, to declare, as they did on April 22d, that 
they would not treat with the English commissioners " unless 
they shall either withdi"aw their fleets and armies or in posi- 
tive and express terms acknowledge the independence of the 
States." 



154 



LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 



1778 We are very apt to think of the soldiers of the Revolution 
arrayed iu the costumes which have been assigned to them in 
the various historical paintings, and as being uniformed at all 
times in their continental costumes 5 but ordinarily, and espe- 
cially on this occasion, there was very little of the pomp and 
cu'cumstanee usual in ordinary army reviews. There w^as no 
public to admire the scene, and the scene itself was not a brill- 
iant one, but to them it was in the liighest degree inspiring. 
There were few uniforms, many of the men had no shoes, and 
a great many had no coats, or their coats were made of what 
remained of their winter blankets. The men had been drilled 
all through the winter by Baron Steuben, and were soldierly 
in their bearing, but there was nothing of the pageantry and 
show which were displayed two weeks later by the British 
army just before the evacuation of Philadelphia. There 
was thanksgiving in every heart and determination in every 
face, and their fixed resolution to obtain theu* freedom was 
shown in the fact of their muster, and their way of expressing 
it was in the hymn which closed the parade and wliich came 
with wonderful earnestness and was at the same time the ex- 
pression of their thanksgi\ang for the assistance which they 
had already received and their determination to obtain their 
freedom by God's help. 

On the 27th of May, 1778, Congress ordered " That a bat- 
talion of infantry shall consist of nine companies, one of which 
shall be of light infantry ; the light infantry to be kept com- 
pleat by drafts from the battalion, and organized during the 
campaign into corps of light infantry : 



" I.— INFANTRY. 
"That the battalion of infantry consist of 



r 



■22 i 
B 

a 

o 
O 



1 Colonel and Captain 

1 Lieutenant Colonel and Captain 

1 Major and Captain 

6 Captains each 

1 Captain Lieutenant 

8 Lieutenants " 

9 Ensigns " 



Pay per month. 
75 dollars. 
60 " 
50 " 
40 " 
26 2-3ds. 
26 2-3ds. 
20 dollars. 



PAY OF THE ARMY. 



loo 



Paymaster, 
Adjutant, 
Quart, master, 



to be taken j 20 dol. 
from I 13 " 
[ the line, j 13 " 



■) Pay per month. 1778 

y In addition to their pay as 



J 



officers in the line. 



1 Surgeon 
1 Surgeon's Mate 
1 Sergeant Major 
1 Quartermaster Sergeant 
27 Sergeants each 

1 Drum Major 
1 Fife Major 

18 Drums and Fifes " 

27 Corporals " 

477 Privates " 6 2-3ds. 

" Each of the field officers to command a company. 
*' The Lieutenant of the Colonel's company to have the rank of Cap- 
tain Lieutenant. 



60 dollars. 


40 




10 




10 




10 




9 




9 




7 l-3d. 


7 l-3d. 



II.— ARTILLERY. 



" That a battalion of artillery consist of 



o 
O 



1 Colonel 

1 Lieutenant Colonel 

1 Major 
12 Captains 

12 Captain Lieutenants 
12 First Lieutenants 
36 Second Lieutenants 



each 



Paymaster, 
Adjutant, 
Quart, master. 



to be taken I 25 dol. 
from ^ 16 " 



the line. 



J 



16 



1 Surgeon 

1 Surgeon's Mate 

1 Sergeant Major 

1 Quartermaster Sergeant 

1 Fife Major 

1 Drum Major 
72 Sergeants 
72 Bombardiers 
72 Corporals 
72 Gunners 
24 Drums and Fifes 
336 Matrosses 



Pay per month. 
100 dollars. 
75 " 
62 1-half. 
50 dollars. 
33 l-3d. 
33 l-3d. 
33 l-3d. 



In addition to their pay 
officers in the line. 



75 dollars. 
50 " 
11 23-90ths. 
11 23-90ths. 
10 38-90ths. 
1038-90ths. 
10 dollars. 

9 " 

9 " 

8 2-3ds. 

8 2-3ds. 

8 l-3d. 



each 



1778 



156 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

" III.— CAVALRY, OR DRAGOONS. 



" That a battalion of Cavalry consist of 



.2 i 



1 Colonel 
1 Lieutenant 
1 Major 
6 Captains 
12 Lieutenants 
6 Cornets 
1 Riding Master 



each 



Pay per month. 
Dollars. 

93 3-4ths. 

75 

60 

50 

33 i-3d. 

26 2-3ds. 

33 l-3d. 



Paymaster, 
Adjutant, 
Quart, master, 



(to be taken 1 25 dol. 1 ^ jj-.l- ^ xi • 

I ^ , , In addition to their 
< from >]5"> ^ .,, ,. 



from 
the line. 



^15 
15 



officers in the line. 



pay as 



1 Surgeon 

1 Surgeon's Mate 

1 Sadler 

1 Trumpet Major 

6 Farriers 

6 Quart, master Serj. 

6 Trumpeters 
12 Sergeants 
30 Corporals 
324 Dragoons 



each 



60 dollars. 
40 
10 
11 
10 
15 
10 
15 
10 
8 l-3d. 



IV.— PROVOST. 



Resolved, That a Provost be established, to consist of 



1 Captain of Provosts 

4 Lieutenants 
1 Clerk 

1 Quartermaster Sergeant 

2 Trumpeters 
2 Sergeants 

5 Corporals 

43 Provosts or Privates 
4 Executioners 



each 



Pay per month. 
50 dollars. 
33 l-3d. 
33 l-3d. 
15 dollars. 
10 " 
15 " 
10 " 
8 l-3d, 
10 dollars. 



" This corps to be mounted on horseback, and armed and accoutered 
as light dragoons. 

" Resolved, That in the engineering department three companies be 
established, each to consist of 



PAY OF THE ARMY, 157 

Pay per month. 1778 
1 Captain 50 dollars. 

3 Lieutenants each 33 l-3d. 

4 Sergeants '* 10 dollars. 
4 Corporals " 9 " 

60 Privates " « l-3d. 

"These companies to be instructed in the fabrication of field works as 
far as relates to the manual and mechanical part. Their business sliall 
be to instruct the fatigue parties to do their dutj' with celerity and ex- 
actness : to repair injuries done to the works by the enemy's fire, and 
to prosecute works in the face of it. The commissioned officers to be 
skilled in the necessary branches of the mathematics : the non-com- 
missioned officers to write a good hand. 

^^ Resolved, That the adjutant and quartermaster of a regiment be 
nominated by the field officers out of the subalterns, and presented to 
the commander in chief or the commander in a separate department 
for approbation ; and that being approved of, they receive from him a 
warrant agreeable to sucli nomination. 

"That the paymaster of a regiment be chosen by the officers of the 
regiment out of the captains or subalterns, and appointed by warrant 
as above : the officers are to risque their pay in his hands : the pay- 
masters to have the charge of the clothing, and to distribute the 
same. 

^'Resolved, That the brigade major be appointed as heretofore by the 
commander in chief, or commander in a separate department, out of 
the captains in the brigade to which he shall be appointed. 

" That the brigade quartermaster be appointed by the quartermaster 
general, out of the captains or subalterns in the brigade to which he 
shall be appointed. 

''Resolved, That two aids-de-camp be allowed to each major-general, 
who shall for the future appoint them out of the captains or sub- 
alterns. 

''Resolved, That in addition to their pay as officers in the line there 
be allowed to 

An Aid-de-Camp, 24 dollars per month. 

Brigade Major, 24 " " 

Brigade Quartermaster, 15 " " 

"Resolved, That when any of the staff officers appointed from the 
line are promoted above the ranks in the line out of which they are 
respectively appointable, their staff appointments shall thereupon be 
vacated. 

"The present aids-de-camp and brigade majors to receive their pres- 
ent pay and rations. 



158 



LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 



"Resolved, That aids-de-camp, brigade majors and brigade quarter- 
masters, heretofore appointed from the Une, shall hold their present 
ranks and be admissible into the line again in the same rank they held 
when taken from the line ; provided that no aid, brigade-major or 
quartermaster, shall have the command of any officers who com- 
manded him while in the line. 

''Resolved, That whenever the adjutant general shall be appointed 
from the line, he may continue to hold his rank and commission in the 
line. 

••Resolved, That when supernumerary lieutenants are continued 
under this arrangement of the battalions, who are to do the duty of 
ensigns, they shall be entitled to hold their rank and receive the pay 
such rank entitled them to receive. 

''Resolved, That no more colonels be appointed in the infantry ; but 
where any such commission is or shall become vacant, the battalion 
shall be commanded by a lieutenant colonel, who shall be allowed the 
same pay as is now granted to a colonel of infantry, and shall rise in 
promotion from that to the rank of brigadier : and such battalion 
shall have only two field officers, viz., a lieutenant colonel and major, 
but it shall have an additional captain." * 

The pay of the following officers was at different times 
during the war fixed as follows : 



Pay per month. 


Major-General 


|166 


Aid-de-Camp 


50 


Brigadier-General of Cav- 




alry, 


156 1-4 


Brig. -General of Infantry 


125 


Brigade Chaplain 


50 


Quartermaster-General 


166 2-3 


Deputy Qr. Mr. Gen., 




Southern Army 


125 


Deputy Qr. Mr. Gen., Main 




Army 


75 


Assistant Qr. Mr. Generals 


30 


Wagon-Master 


60 


Dep. Wagon-Master, South 


- 


ern Army, 


50 


Wagon Conductor 


20 


Adjutant 


125 


Deputy Adjutant-General 


75 



Pay per month. 
Assistant Adjutant-General $50 
Clerk to Adjutant-General 40 
Inspector-General 300 

Paymaster-General, in the 

currency of the day 166 2-3 

Deputy Paymaster-General 75 
Asst. Paymaster-General 70 
Director of Hospitals 102 

Dep. Director of Hospital 100 
Surgeon of Hospital 90 

Apothecary and Purveyor 92 
Stewards of Hospitals 31 

Com'ry-General Mil. Stores 83 1-3 
Field Commissary Mil. Stores 50 
Dep'ty Field Com. Mil. 

Stores 40 

Commissary of Prisoners 75 
Asst. Com'ry of Prisoners 40 



* " Journal of Congress," vol. iv., p. 310. 



PAY OF THE ARMY. 



159 



Pay per month. 

Geographer to the Army $60 

Assistant Geographer 30 

Judge-Advocate 75 

Deputy Judge- Advocate 60 

Clothier-General 250 

Deputy Clothier-General 75 

Inspector of Rations 166 2-3 

Riding-master of Cavalry 33 1-3 



Pay per month. 
Geographical Chain-Bearer $15 
Conductor of Artillery 40 

Forage-Master 80 

Director of Artificers 40 

Brigade Inspector, in addi- 
tion to pay in the line 30 
Quartermaster-General 80 

Dep. Quartermaster-General 60 



1778 



This pay, if had not been made in a depreciated money, 
would have been ample for those times, if it had not been 
for the fact that its payment was often delayed for six 
months or more. As it was, it was only sufficient to about 
bankrupt the officers and men who had no private resources. 

Both officers and men were tired of the inaction at Valley 
Forge. General Varnum, writing to General Sullivan on the 
27th of May, said : 

" All the Brigadiers except Poor, Paterson, and myself have been 
home on furlough. I do not think it possible to find contentment in 
this kind of abstinence much longer." 

Valley Forge had been a good school for both officers and 
men. The inaction was soon to cease. 

The English had spent the winter in gayety at Philadelphia. 
The possession of the rebel capital had not only been of no 
advantage to them, it was an embarrassment, and morally it 
was a defeat. The Americans had spent the winter at Valley 
Forge in hard work to bring up tlieu* discipHne, suffering at 
the same time the greatest privations. When spring came the 
Americans were ready for hard fighting and more determined 
than ever ; but the English were feeling the effects of a wasted 
winter. 

Many of the officers who had come out with d'Estaing had 
asked for service in a time of enthusiasm and excitement, and 
with extravagant ideas both of promotion and emolument, 
and, finding that their expectations were not realized, had re- 
turned to France at the expense of Congress. Not more than 



160 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 ten remained, among whom were Lafayette, Pulaski, and 
Kosciusko. Lafayette was given a command, Pulaski was 
put into the cavalry, and Kosciusko into the corps of engi- 
neers. 

During the winter of 1777-8 the Highlands of the Hudson 
had been carefully reconnoitered. General Gates was put in 
command of West Point on December 2, 1777. It had pre- 
viously been under the command of General Parsons. All 
the forts and other works in that vicinity had been destroyed 
by the British, and it was under discussion what points on 
the Hudson should be fortified. As there was considerable 
diiference of opinion as to what point should be selected, the 
Council and Assembly of New York State was asked to con- 
sider it, and they, on January 13, 1778, fixed on West Point 
as the key to the situation. General Putnam was chosen to 
command, but as he was obliged to be absent, as he was on 
the court of inqiiiry in relation to the loss of Forts Montgom- 
ery and Clinton, General McDougall was put in command and 
ordered to press the work of fortification as much as possible. 
Kosciusko was selected as the engineer, and for the time this 
became the matter of absorbing interest in the Highlands. 

With the opening of spring the officers of the American 
Army began to make plans for a summer campaign. The 
discipline which had been introduced into the army at Valley 
Forge by Baron Steuben made them feel greater confidence 
in themselves than they had heretofore done. In the pre- 
vious fall, on November 24, 1777, at a council of war called 
to consider the desirability of an attack on Philadelphia, only 
four generals had voted for it. Eleven, including General 
Paterson, voted against it. Now, however, three generals, 
and among them General Paterson, voted for it. Four wanted 
to attack New York. One wanted to attack both cities at 
once. Three others advised to do nothing until the British 
should in some way show what their plans were. This was 
also General Washington's opinion. 

On May 7th General Paterson received the following orders : 
" The Honorable Congress of February 3d requires all officers 



BRITISH IX PHILADELPHIA. 161 

holding commissions to take the oath of allegiance to the free l' 
United States, Brigadier-General Patei-son to grant certificates 
and administer the oath to his own brigade." One of these 
Valley Forge certificates is in the author's possession. Dur- 
ing the month of May every general except Poor, Varniim, 
and Paterson asked for and received a furlough. They re- 
mained on duty. 

Howe had found it much more difficult to provision Phila- 
delphia than New York, and as soon as the season pei-mitted 
had dispatched foraging parties to secure food and other sup- 
plies. Against these, detachments had been sent out, which 
often prevented them from obtaining any supplies. As the 
Americans did not present a very soldierly appearance, and 
were without uniforms, the British ceased to fear them. They 
had already forgotten Saratoga. Lafayette, who was a major- 
general, was put in command of 2100 picked men and five 
pieces of artillery, to prevent these incursions, and to watch 
for signs of the evacuation of the city. General Clinton had 
replaced General Howe, and realized fully his dangerous posi- 
tion. To clear his way for the evacuation, and capture Lafa- 
yette, on May 19th he sent 5000 men against him at Barren 
Hill; but Lafayette foiled theni and joined the American 
Army in safety. 

On May 18th, 23d, 30th, and June 6th General Paterson 
was officer of the day. Toward the middle of May it became 
apparent that the British could not hold out much longer in 
Philadelphia. They feared that they would be blockaded in 
that city by the French fleet, which might easily have been 
done. On the 18th Washington in general orders ordered all 
the forces to be prepared for any sudden movement. On May 
23d he ordered them to be ready to march at a moment's 
warning. It had been a long, dreary winter, and the troops 
were ready for any advance. The order for the disposition of 
the army on the march to the Hudson River was given in May 
by Washington. Paterson, Glover, and Larned were in the 4th 
Division under Baron de Kalb. On June 6tli tliej^ were still 
at VaUey Forge. On the 17th Washington asked counsel of 



162 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 his generals, who advised him to disencumber his army of all 
baggage, and be ready to give chase to the British as soon 
as the city was evacuated. On the morning of the 18th of 
June Sir Henry Chnton evacuated Philadelphia. Before sun- 
set of that day the Americans marched in and occupied it, 
and Arnold was sent to take possession and command. The 
evacuation of the city commenced at three o'clock in the 
morning, and by ten o'clock the whole British army of occu- 
pation was in New Jersey. They were encumbered with a 
heav}^ baggage train, said to have been twelve miles long, and 
took the road toward Sandy Hook. Their army numbered 
about 12,000 men, thoroughly equipped and organized. The 
American Army was somewhat larger, but was not well 
equipped. Washington left Valley Forge at once to pursue 
Clinton through New Jersey, but he did not reach him untO. 
June 28th. 

Washington wished to engage the retreating enemy. He 
reached Hopewell, which is about five miles from Princeton, 
on the 24th of June. He at once called a council of war, to 
determine whether it would be advisable to hazard a general 
engagement. Six generals, under the leadership of Lee, ad- 
vised against it. Six others, among whom were Paterson and 
Lafayette, voted for it. Paterson wished to have 2500 to 
3000 men sent forward at once. Washington himself believed 
that this was a most favorable time to force a general engage- 
ment, and that the danger from the effect on the public mind, 
of allowing an army with twelve miles of baggage train, to 
cross New Jersey unmolested, was far gi'eater than any defeat 
which was feared owing to the superior equipment of the 
enemy. Notwithstanding the great heat and the fatigue of 
the army, who had been almost starved on their march, he de- 
termined to force an engagement. He ordered a detachment 
under Lafayette and another under Lee to worry the rear- 
guard of the enemy and to reinforce that part of the main 
army which was nearest to the British, and sent Steuben to 
reconnoiter. Washington was moving faster than Clinton, 
and on a line nearly parallel to him, and was getting ahead 



IXSUBORDIXATIOX OF LEE. 163 

of the British on the line of their retreat. Clinton had noth- 
ing to gain by fighting, and hoped to avoid it. He only 
wished to get safely to New York, with as little delay as pos- 
sible. He was moving east toward Monmonth, and hoped to 
reach Sandy Hook safely, aa from there he could embark his 
troops, under the cover of the British fleet, to New York. His 
right wing took the advance and convoj^ed his baggage train. 
His left wing, composed of about 8000 men, followed in the 
rear, and was exposed to attack. 

On the 25tli Steuben reported the British as marching 
toward Monmouth Court-House, which, however, they did not 
reach untd the 27th. On the 28th, finding that the British 
were moving away from their position, Washington ordered 
Lee, who commanded the advance, which was composed of 
6000 men, to attack the enemy. Lee at fii'st declined. If he 
had persisted, the command would have devolved on Lafa- 
yette, when the result would probably have been the capture 
of the whole of Clinton's army ; but Lee reconsidered, and 
asked to be put in command and to be allowed to lead the 
attack. The orders to Lee were positive and explicit. He 
was to attack at once, and the main army was ordered to 
move forward to Freehold to support him. Lee went off to 
the right, to draw, as he said, the enemy into the i'a\"ines 
there, so that he could destroy them. He marched and coun- 
termarched the troops, to no purpose. He was not present 
when the attack was made, which was, by his orders, carried 
out so slowly as to be entirely useless. Clmton, finding him- 
self in danger, moved first, and attacked Lee's troops and 
drove them back in disorder. Lafayette, who began to sus- 
pect that all was not right, sent for Washington, who, when 
he arrived on the ground, found Lee's troops in full retreat. 
There was no necessity for the retreat. Lee's force was am- 
ple, and it was, as the events proved, well disciplined. The 
advantage was on Lee's side, and there was every reason to 
hope that he would capture some of the best troops in the 
British Army at the very commencement of the fight. When 
the attack began Lee ordered first WajTie and then Lafayette 



16-i LIFE OF MAJOK-GENERAL JOHN PATEliSON. 

1778 to make only feints, to draw away the attention of the enemy ; 
and they, supposing that the orders had been changed by 
Washington, did so. The reason that Lee gave for these 
orders was that he did not believe that his troops could stand 
up against the British soldiers. Lee then ordered the regi- 
ments on the left to fall back, and the others, seeing the 
movement, which they thought was a retreat, became panic- 
stricken. Lee gave orders that the retreat should be contin- 
ued. Neither officers nor men knew what they were retreat- 
ing for, and the fear of an unknown danger became greater 
than it could have been in the face of one that was known. 
Lee, as he had determined to do, either because he was piqued 
or because he wished the British to capture both Washington 
and his army, had thrown his entire command into complete 
disorder and confusion. Washington, coming up at this mo- 
ment and finding the rout complete, ordered Steuben to re- 
form the troops on the left, and Wayne those on the right. 
Steuben collected the left behind the creek at Englishtown. 
General Paterson coming up, after they were formed, with 
three brigades of the second line, was ordered to j^lace his 
troops a little more to the rear, on the high ground. While 
Steuben was re-forming the troops he met Lee, who had been 
ordered to the rear, and he tried to dissuade him from carry- 
ing out his orders, on the ground that he must have misun- 
derstood them ; but without avail. So accustomed had the 
men at Valley Forge become to follow the lead of Steuben 
and so convinced were they that his methods of discipline had 
made the army more efficient than it had ever been before, 
though closely pursued and in complete rout, they wheeled 
into line and re-formed under fire at his command with almost 
the same precision that they had done on the parade ground 
or at the famous Thanksgiving review at Valley Forge. From 
being mad with a nameless fear they became cool and acted 
with the bravery of veterans. This unexpected stand com- 
pletely checked the British advance. FoOed in tliis du-ection, 
Clinton attacked Wayne. This was led by the grenadier 
guards, commanded by Colonel Moncton. They had been 



BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. 165 

drilled in bayonet practice, and were very skillful in it. The 1778 
colonel made a speech to them in which he ui'ged them to 
charge like men and to keep up the reputation of their corps. 
The two forces were so near that every word was heard by the 
Americans, and probably influenced them quite as much as 
it did the British soldiers. The grenadiers made a charge at 
quickstep, expecting to drive everything before them. The 
Americans waited quietly until they were quite close, and 
then met them with such a destructive fii'e that the grena- 
diers were not only driven back in confusion, but, though 
they fought like heroes for the body of their colonel, who fell 
at the first fire, they were obliged to retreat, leaving it in the 
possession of the Americans. This repulse of the elite of the 
British Army by men who had just been rallied from an ig- 
nominious retreat is one of the most striking pictures of the 
Revolution. 

Clinton now attacked the left, but was also driven back. 
General Paterson and his troops fought with great braver}^ in 
repelling this attack. The fighting continued until five in 
the afternoon. When it ceased, the British were retreating. 
Steuben was then ordered to the front to pursue the retir- 
ing enemy, and started at once with General Paterson and 
his troops. Night came on before he reached them, and he 
and the rest of the American Army camped on the battle- 
field, intending to renew the fight the next morning ; but 
when the sun rose Clinton was gone, and was so far on the 
way to Sandy Hook that it was useless to pursue him. 

It was a hotly contested fight. Both parties claimed the 
victory, but the Americans held the field of battle. The battle 
was full of incidents. Painters have not tired representing 
Molly Pitcher taking her husband's position at the cannon and 
fighting in his place with all the vigor and bravery of a vet- 
eran soldier. Writers have described Washington's righteous 
wrath when he met Lee. Historians have praised Wayne for 
his magnificent fight under disadvantageous circumstances. 
Army men are never tired of extolKng Steuben's drilling of 
the men and forming them when in full retreat into an orderly 



166 LIFE OF MAJOK-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

17T8 line of battle so that they more than saved the name they had 
lost. Steuben's drilling at Valley Forge and his command of 
the men and Washington's generalship saved Monmouth, and 
taught the world again that in the defense of their rights de- 
termined men are a match for disciplined soldiery. 

This was the last general engagement which took place at 
the north. It was fought with desperation on both sides. 
The treachery of Lee came very near being fatal to the cause 
of American independence. The proof of his treason was not 
discovered until eighty years after the battle. Had any other 
general been in command the whole of Clinton's army would 
probably have been captured, or at least have suffered such a 
defeat that the war would have been ended with the battle of 
Monmouth. As it was, owing to his treason it was pi^olonged, 
with much useless suifering on both sides, until the surrender 
at Yorktown. There is no doubt now that Lee had been 
negotiating with the enemy while he was a prisoner, and was 
giving aid and counsel to the British while he was in New 
York. It is believed that he intended to overthrow Washing- 
ton, and either to try to replace him by causing his defeat, or 
after the defeat to treat with the British, making the best 
terms he could for himself, and in that way to gain great 
credit with the enemy for having terminated the war. He 
was a traitor whose intentional disregard of his orders caused 
greater injmy to his adopted country than the treason of 
Benedict Arnold. He lived through his court-martial, be- 
cause it was not then suspected that it was possible that he 
could have been guilty of such a crime, only to be dismissed 
by Congress. Notwithstanding his talents, he died the death 
of an adventurer, and has gained for himself the contempt 
and disdain of every American citizen. 

After the battle neither side claimed a decisive victory. 
The English lost 450 in killed and wounded; the Ameri- 
cans, 230. The Enghsh retired to commence, as their com- 
missioners had threatened to do, a warfare on the defense- 
less, with the aid of savages. On July 3d, a week after the 
battle of Monmouth, the massacre of W^-oming took place. 




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COUNCIL AT HOPEWELL. 167 



It was a piece of barbarous savagery, which was stigmatized l^^S 
in England as it shonld have been, and as it richly deserved. 
It had been, however, ordered by the ministry, and they 
neither disavowed their order nor abandoned their policy. Its 
only effect was to make the Americans more determined than 
ever to sever forever all connection with a country whose 
government could indorse such butchery. 

In the council held previous to the battle of Monmouth 
General Paterson was one of the most earnest advocates of 
the plan of attack which proved so successful. On one of the 
bas-rehefs of the monument erected in 1884 by the State of 
New Jersey, he is represented in the group of the thii'teen 
officers comprising the council as the second figure beside 
Lafayette, earnestly advocating the plan which Lee so en- 
tu-ely disapproved of, and which he came so near turning into 
a disastrous defeat. The cut on the opposite page, taken 
from the bas-reliefs on the monument at Hopewell, New Jer- 
sey, commemorating the battle, shows General Paterson advo- 
cating with General Lafayette the plans for the battle. 

From this time on, the British in the north acted entirely 
on the defensive. They maintained their foothold, but with 
the exception of a few marauding expeditions they did not 
again take the offensive in the north. Their efforts were con- 
fined to the south, with varjdng but only temporary success, 
but in the long run the final result was always failure. 

After tlie battle of Monmouth Washington saw that it was 
useless to try to prevent or to further molest Clinton's retreat, 
and tlie army moved leisurely up to White Plains and went 
into camp near the old battlefield of October, 1776. It arrived 
about July 25th and remained there up to September 15th. 
Chnton went to New York, so that both armies occupied the 
same positions as two years before, but this time the Americans 
had been the aggressors. In the order of battle which was 
formed. General Paterson's brigade was assigned to General 
Gates' di\dsion on the left of the line, and was known as the 
3d Massachusetts brigade. It was composed of the 10th, 
11th, 12th, and 14th Massachusetts line, under Colonels Mar- 



168 LIFE OF MAJOK GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 shall, Tupper, Brewer, and Bradford, and so remained until 
after January 1, 1781. It was the largest Continental en- 
campment of the Revolution. The troops were drilled in the 
tactics which Baron Steuben had devised at VaUey Forge. 

During this encampment uniforms were devised, officers' ranks 
settled, and the regimental and brigade colors fixed. Wash- 
ington, in a letter to General Heath dated September 6th, 
writes : " I do not know what device General Paterson will 
choose to have upon his colors. I will speak to him and de- 
sire him to inform you." In an autograph letter of Gen- 
eral Washington, he gave to General Paterson the choice 
of his brigade colors. 

The following orders of General Washington are taken 
from the Orderly Books of the 9tli Massachusetts regiment : 

" Paramas, July 11th 1778. 

" The left wing of the army to March tomorrow morning at one 
o'clock ; those Gentlemen belonging to it concerned in the case of Genl 
Lee are directed to stay behind and attend the Court Martial. 

" The Genl to beat at 12 o'clock and the Troops to march at one by 
the left — Genl Patterson in front." 

" Head Quarters Wright's Mill July 22nd 1778. 
" The troops will be Brigaded as follows and the necessary changes 
are to be made accordingly. 

r Heath f Brewer 

-,„,,■,, Crooper -, , , Marshall 

Woodford s ■{ -.^ Paterson s -{ r^ ,„ , 

Mason Bradford 

[ Freibeger [ Tupper 

" North Carolina, Nixons, Paterson's, Late Learneds, and Poor's 
Brigades are to compose the Left Wing of the first Line." 

" Head Quarters White Plains 26th July 1778 
" Maj. Genl- Baron De Kalb. Brigadier Paterson, to be officers for 
the day. 

" A General Court Martial will set tomorrow morning at the New 
Dining Room at the Left of the Park near Genl Morris' Quarters, to try 
all such Prisoners as shall be brought before them. Col. Stewart will 
preside. Members — Lt. Col. Ball, Maj Fernald, and a Capt. from the 
following Brigades, North Carolina, Woodford's, Scotts, 1st & 2nd 
Maryland, 2nd Penn., Clinton's, Persons, Huntington's, Nixon's, 
Paterson's, Late Learned's, and Poor's." 



ARMY ORDERS. 169 

General Paterson was often brigadier of the day.* 1778 

On August 3d, the officers for the day were Major-Greneral 
Gates and Brigadier-General Paterson. On August 7th, Major- 
General Baron De Kalb and Brigadier-General Paterson. 
On August 12th, Major-General Gates and Brigadier-General 
Paterson. On August 19th, Major-General McDougall and 
Brigadier-General Paterson. On August 30th, Major-General 
Putnam and Brigadier-General Paterson. On September 4th, 
Major-General Gates and Brigadier-General Paterson. On 
September 7th the following orders were issued : 

'• Head Quarters Sept 7th 1773 
" For the present and until the circumstances of the Army will admit 
of a more perfect arrangement, it is to be divided and arranged as 
follows, viz, 

"2nd (Division) by Maj. Genl Gates — Brigades — Poor's, Late 
Learned's, and Patersons." 

" Head Quarters Sept 9 1778 
" Maj. Genl- Putnam — Brigadier Paterson." 

" Head Quarters Bedford Sept 14th 1773 
"Genl Poor's Bi-igade to furnish an Advance Guard commanded by 
a Subaltern toward Danbury, and Genl Paterson to furnish a Sub- 
altern Guard in the rear toward the Grand Camp and Late Learned's, 
on the western road towards Fishkill to prevent all straggling from 
any suspicious person entering the environs of the camp, and to be in 
constant readiness as they expect order every moment to march." 

On September 9th, Sewal records in his Diary that : 

" A small party of our men in boats went across the sound Last night 
& burnt 3 vessels toock 10 men & killd 11 & toock a Large Quantity 
of Baggage. 

"Genrl Poors, Patersons & Learnards Brigades are Ordered to be 
Eedy to March to Morrow morning at Nine o'Clock. 

" 10th. we are Redy to march but Due not. 

" 11th we march this morning at sun Rise towards Danbury 8 mils 
& incamp." 

Tiie following extracts are taken from Sewal's Diary : 

" On Sunday Aug 23 1778 attended divine service at Gen. Patersons 
Brigade. 

* The office was a routine of duty and not a post of honor. 



170 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 (Extract of a Letter from an Officer, Dated Camp White Plains, Sept. 

10, 1778.) 

"This moment orders have come out for Poor's, Paterson's, and 
Learnard's. brigades to march ; for which they are now parading ; their 
destination a profound secret, (supposed near Rhode Island,) the above 
brigades are commanded by that northern hero Gates. 

" Fridaj', September 11, 1778. Poor's. Paterson's and late Larneds 
Brigades marched under the command of Maj. General Gates. Moved 
to the East- ward and encamped at North Castle. Rec'd my wages to 
Sept. 1 amounting to 198 dollars. 

" Sunday Sept. 20. 1778. Attended Divine Service in Genl. Pater- 
sons Brigade a.m. and at Danbury in the afternoon." * 

" Head Quarters Danbury Sept. 18th 1778 
" Genl Paterson will furnish a Guard on the Road leading to New- 
town, Late Learned leading to Bedford, and Genl Poor on Fairfield 
Road." f 

" Head Quarters Danbury Sept 19th. 1773 
" Genl McDougall's Division will on their arrival at Danbury march 
and Encamp on the ground at present occupied by Genl Paterson's 
Brigade. Genl Paterson will move his Brigade as soon as possible to 
the Right of Learned, and Learned will encamp on the Right of 
Poor." t 

" Head Quarters Danbury Sept. 21st 1778 

" The Parade in front of Genl Paterson's Brigade is appointed for 
General Parade where the Brigade Major of the Day will attend to 
march off the Guard at 8 o'clock a.m. — 4th a Picquet on New Town 
Road at Starr's, a Captain Commander furnished from Genl Pat- 
erson's." f 

•' Head Quarters Sept. 22iid 1778 

" Officers for the Day — Brigadier — Paterson. Col. Wood, Maj Secol, 
B. M. Harwood Inspector from Nixon's Brigade." f 

On September 15th the army moved north, passing through 
Bedford and Wright's Mills to Fredericksburg. At Freder- 
icksburg the army began to break up for winter-quarters. 
General Paterson with Gates' division went to Danbury on 
September 20th. On that day orders were issued for the in- 
trenching tools to be sent to the rear of General Paterson's 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 
f Orders of Major-General Gates. 



ARMY ORDERS. 171 

brigade. On October 8th General Paterson presided at a l''7( 
division court-martial at Daubury. General Gates' division 
was ordered to Peekskill. General Gates himself was ordered 
to Boston. He arrived there on November 6th, and took 
command of that department which included Boston and 
Providence on November 9th, In the last week of October 
General Gates, with the three Massachusetts regiments, went 
from Danburj to Hartford. In the first week in November 
General Paterson was present at a great dinner given in Hart- 
ford to General Gates and his officers with every possible 
patriotic demonstration. 
Sewal's Diary says : 

" Wednesday October 21, 1778. Paterson's Brigade marched at 9 
o'clock encamped at Newtown, 10 miles. 

" Hartford Conn., Monday November 2, 1778. Cold uncomfortable. 
Mustered Paterson's & late Larned's Brigades for October. Genl. Gates 
left here for Boston. 

"Saturday, November 21, 1778. Paterson's and late Larned's Bri- 
gades marched for Danbury. Encamped at Farmington. Cold. 

" Saturday, December 5, 1778. Returned to Fishkill found both 
Brigades had moved off and left the Baggage and tents standing. 
Paterson's marched in the night and Larned's this morning, as there 
was an appearance of the enemy coming up the river. 

" Monday, December 7, 1778. Paterson's Brigade lay about 12 miles 
below Fishkill nearly opposite West point. They marched on to the 
Point in the evening. I tarry at Fishkill yet. 

"Thursday Dec. 31. 1778. A committee from Paterson's, Nixon's 
and late Larned's Brigades met and drew a petition representing griev- 
ances of the army to the general Court of the Massachusetts State." * 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE HATED HIGHLANDS. 

1778 General McDougall took command for the winter of th^ 
"Posts in the Highlands," which comprised "West Point and 
all the fortifications on both sides of the river near it. It in- 
cluded all the forts as far down as the lower Fort Clinton. 
There was no special locality known as the Highlands. It 
was a large area covering all the points more or less com- 
manded or directly connected with West Point. Of all the 
posts in the United States, West Point was deemed by Wash- 
ington the most important. From September, 1778, until the 
close of the war, the main Continental Array was almost con- 
stantly in the Highlands or in their vicinit3^ The life of the gar- 
rison, during the winters, was as full of hardship as the more 
famous seasons at Valley Forge and Morristown, and but for 
the patience and patriotic endurance of officers and men, the 
defenses could not have been completed in time for the dan- 
gers that threatened in the summers of 1779 and '80, when 
Clinton occupied Stony Point and Arnold all but betrayed 
the key to the Highlands. 

Major-General McDougall, who was in command of West 
Point, wrote on December 7th to General Paterson at Peek's- 
kill: 

"Head Quarters, Peek's-kill, Dec. 7th, 1773. 
"Sir. 

"Accept my thanks for the laudable example you have shown to 
our Brigade since you marched from Fishkill and please to present 
them to the Brigade, for their alertness and alacrity on the march and 
their soldierly patience in the field at this inclement season. I wish 
you not to take the command for a few days. When I shall have the 
pleasure of seeing you, I will fully and satisfactorily explain to you 

172 



GENERAL MCDOUGALL TO GENERAL PATERSON. 173 

the reasons which induce me to this. In the meantime make yourself 1778 
acquainted with the Post. 

" Inclosed you have a copy of mine to Col. Malcom. Peruse it — 
If the answers are fully given it will open to your mind the state of 
the Post and other matters of moment for you to be informed of. 
The time of several bodies of mechanics are expired today or next it. 
The reason of giving the preference of covering to them is obvious, 
and that to the Carolinas equally so. When you estimate what num- 
ber of officers and men of yours can be taken into Houses, Barracks, 
Hutts, and the Carolina Tents, please to order down a sufficient num- 
ber of the best of your Marques and Tents to cover the others, and 
return the surplus into the D. Q. Master General store at Fishkill to be 
repaired. If Mr. Robinson's house is cleared of the Southern invalids, 
order down as many of yours as can be accommodated there or at 
such other places near you as Col Mahon shall advise, and whenever 
the weather shall permit the rest of your Brigade except those of them 
who are fit subjects of the Hospital. 

" Examine and determine in your own mind the properest place to 
Hutt such as you will be obliged to cover by them. 

" Your baggage must all be sent down by water. 

" I am Sir your humble Servant 
"McDoUGALL 
"To Gen. John Paterson from 

•'Maj Gen. McDougall including one to Col. Malcon." 



"Head Quarters, Peek's-Kill, Dec. 7th, 1773 
"Sir, 

" Accept my thanks for the laudable example you have shown to 
your Brigade since you marched from Fish Kills ; and please to present 
them to the Brigade for their alertness and alacrity on the march, and 
their soldierly patience in the Field at this inclement season. I wish 
you not to take the Command for a few days. When I shall have the 
pleasure of seeing you I will fully and satisfactorily explain to you the 
reasons which induce me to this. In the meantime make yourself 
acquainted with the Post. Inclosed you have a copy of mine to Col. 
Malcom; Peruse it. If the answers are fully given, it will open to 
your mind the state of the Post, and other matters of moment for you 
to be informed of. 

" When you estimate what number of officers and men of yours can 
be taken into Houses, Barracks, Huts and the Carolina tents, please to 
order down a sufficient number of the best of your Marquees and 
Tents to cover the others, and return the surplus into the Q. M. Gen- 
eral's store at Fishkill to be repaired. If Robinson's House is cleared 
of the Southern invalids, order down as many of yours as can be 



174 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 accommodated tliere or at such other places near you as Col. Malcom 
shall advise ; and whenever the weather will permit, the rest of your 
Brigade except those of them who are fit subjects of the Hospital. 
Your baggage must all be sent down by water. 

" I am, Sir, Your Humble Servant, 

" MCDOUGALL* 

" B. Genl. Paterson " f 

To this letter General Paterson replied : 

" West Point, Deer 8th, 1778, 
"Sir: 

" I received your Favors of the 7th & 8th — Am perfectly satisfied with 
your disposition for the Winter but am very sorry to find a spirit in 
the garrison to dispute so reasonable an arrangement. It gives dis- 
satisfaction to the officers of my Brigade that they should dispute Gen- 
eral orders when it does not perfectly answer their expectation. They 
think it is done thro' the Influence of some individuals out of prejudice 
to them. I should be very happy to get some Cover for them as soon 
as can be ; they have, I am sure, in the Course of the service, suffered 
as much or more tlian any Brigade in the army with Patience. 

" We have been viewing the Woods. Our officers are of the opinion 
that we Cannot Hutt within three miles of the Garrison, but I think 
we can build some on the ground we viewed the other day. 

" I have sent for my baggage — expect it down the next Tide — had 
sent before I received your directions but shall return what is unneces- 
sary immediately. You will please to accept my most sincere ac- 
knowledgments for the favourable opinion you have entertained of 
my Brigade. I hope our Conduct may be such as to justify it. 

" I am. Sir, with esteem 
" Your most Ob'dient 
" humble servant 
" On Public Service "Jno Paterson. 

"Maj. Genl- McDougall 
" at Peekskill. 

" [P. S.] The Carolina Troops will move in the morning, at which 
time I shall take care to see your orders put in execution. 

"J. Paterson." |; 

* These letters were written in duplicate, but as they are not identi- 
cal, both the original and the copy are given. The original and the 
copy are in a different handwriting. 

f New York Historical Society. 

X New York Historical Society. 



GENERAL PATERSON AT WEST POINT. 175 

" West Point, Dec 9th 1778. 1778 
" Sir. 

" I rec'd your favors of the Tth & 8th and am perfectly satisfied with 
our disposition for the Winter, but am sorrj' to find a spirit in the 
Garrison to dispute so reasonable an arrangement. It gives dissatis- 
faction to the officers of my Brigade that they should dispute General 
orders when it does not perfectly answer their expectations. They 
think it is done through the influence of some individuals out of 
prejudice to them. 

' • I should be very happy to get some cover for them as soon as can 
be, they have I am sure in the course of the service, suffered as much, 
or more than any Brigade in the Army, with patience. 

" We have been viewing the woods and our officers are of opinion 
that we cannot Hutt within three miles of the Garrison, but I think 
we can build some on the ground we viewed the other day. 

"I have sent for my baggage and expect it down the next tide — 
had sent it before I rec'd your direction. You will please to accept of 
my most sincere acknowledgements for the favorable opinion you 
have entertained of my Brigade. I hope our conduct may be such as 
to justify it. 

" I am Sir with esteem your most o'b't humble servant 

" Jno Paterson. 

"Maj Gen. McDougall. 

" The Carolina troops will move in the morning at which time I 
shall take care to see your orders put in execution. 

"J. Paterson. 
" On pubhc service \ 
" Maj Gen. McDougall (-endorsed 
" at Peekskill. " ) 

On December 18, 1778, General McDougall, being tempo- 
rarily at West Point, issued the following order: 

"His Excellency, the Commander-in-Chief, having been pleased to 
order me (General McDougall) to take charge of all the posts on the 
Hudson River from Poughkeepsie downward, and signified that it was 
determined in a council of general officers that Brigadier-General 
Paterson should take command of the post at West Point ; he will 
please in pursuance of that order to take the command to-morrow 
morning after guard mounting." 

His brigade bad been ordered to " the Point " about ten 
days before. He thus assumed command at West Point as 



176 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 the choice not only of the Commander-in-Chief, but of all the 
generals who were in the district, and who were then win- 
tering at Middlebrook, New Jersey. West Point had be- 
come the most important post, from a strategic point of view, 
in the north. So long as the Americans held it the New 
England States were comparatively safe, and no very im- 
portant move could be made by the British, since it was the 
key to New York, which the Americans would attack just as 
soon as they left it exposed. General Paterson was selected 
for this position because he was known to be a man of good 
judgment, perfectly safe, and not likely to be led by appear- 
ances to make a false step. 

The Massachusetts troops were in the Highlands except the 
4th brigade, which had been sent to Khode Island. Two of 
these brigades were ordered to encamp on the east side of 
the river, and General Paterson's brigade was stationed for 
the winter at West Point. 

The "Light Company" of the 8th Massachusetts regi- 
ment was one of the best companies in the army ; the 10th 
Massachusetts, the 2d Connecticut brigade, and the 1st and 
2d Massachusetts brigades were also considered among the 
best. General Paterson's brigade consisted of the 2d, 5th, 
and 8th regiments. It therefore included the famous " Light 
Company." 

On December 21st General McDougall wrote to General 
Paterson : 

"H. Q. Peekskill 

" Dec. 21st 1778 

"My dear Sir: I fear business will prevent my seeing you to- 
morrow as intended. 

' ' In the mean time push the covering of troops by finishing half the 
new Barracks with all possible vigor and expedite the cutting of more 
timber for the works agreeable to the arrangements of Col Mahon till 
we have time to adopt another if we shall find it necessary. 

" Advise me where the Chain & Boom are secured. 

"The sick of Col Poor's send to Fishkill the invalids and heavy bag- 
gage to be put in one Hutt if it will contain them. 



GENERAL MCDOUGALL TO GENERAL PATERSON. 177 

"The Regiment will embark with all possible despatch when tide 
& weather will permit. Your companies with the Major to Haver- 1773 
straw, there to take the orders of Major Pawling. The other with the 
Col. to land and be in Houses on the East side as near by Ferry as 
they can be accommodated. He will receive further orders. 

" They will draw one weeks provision Biscuit instead of bread. 
Their pouches will be full of ammunition. 

" Such of the men as are good are men to be left under direction of 
Col Kosciusko until further orders (that is if they are house or ship 
carpenters). 

" They will take with them a sufficient quantity of intrenching tools 
of all kinds to employ the party that goes down the axes to be ground 
and in good order. 

" The Q. Master will give his receipt to return them whether broken 
or whole, or the deficiency to be stopt out of the men's pay. 

' ' Neither officers or men will carry any baggage with them but what 
they can carry on their backs. The commissary will issue them a gill 
of Spirits of any kind if he has it before they embark. 

"You may assure Col. Poor that when the small works about the 
ferry are completed, unless the enemy appears or some extraordinary 
thing turns up, they shall have liberty to return home with his hearty 
thanks for their good services. 

" When the old boards arrive from Wappings Creek you will please 
to send them with all despatch to the village landing at the paper mill 
unless the margins of the river should be covered with ice or the 
enemy should be at King's ferry. 

' ' In either of these cases you will please to advise me when they ar- 
rive at your port. 

" I have rec'd your favor this day. 

" Please to send the two cannon which are now ready. The others 
remain until you hear from me." 

Genei'al McDougall again wrote to General Paterson, De- 
cember 24, 1778, directing him to send parties down to the 
"lines," "Sing Sing dock," the "church," Bedford, North- 
castle, and that region generally ; the troops to be from 
Colonel Larned's regiment. 

" Head Quarters, Peekskill 
" Dec. 24th 1778 

" Major Thompson of Nixon's Brigade is on command at Bedford 
with a party of Learnards. He has written orders for his government. 
You will please to order one of the most prudent and active field offi- 
cers of yours under the degree of Col-in-chief to relieve of the Major — If 



178 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 he has no Horse with him, let him take one, a Saddle and Bridle, from 
any of the disaffected in that neighborhood and give receipt for them 
to be returned when he is relieved. He will then give a certificate of 
the time he shall have had the horse &c, and that it was by my orders. 

" He will take a box of spare ammunition with him suitable to the 
French army, but he is not to deliver any of it to the militia unless 
the enemy come out. I wish to know his name. 

"Let the party of sixty ordered to march embark as soon as the 
weather will permit and land at or about Sing-Sing dock. From 
thence march across the country to the main road of North Castle and 
take such position there for covering the country as Major Lyon there 
of the militia shall advise. When he gets posted he will advise the 
oflBcer commanding at Bedfora of his position in order that small 
, Patrolls may be kept between them. He will do the like when a party 

is posted west of him at Sing-Sing church. That the party be not 
delayed or sutfer from the weather on the water, send a good row boat 
with the first ebb to reconnoitre the state of the ice at and near Sing- 
Sing dock. The party may land anywhere South of Croton river, if 
it should be found practicable. 

"When this party is sent off prepare and send one of the same 
strength and quality and furnished as that, to take post in the lanes 
and positions at or near Sing-Sing church. If it is impracticable to 
land at King's Ferry Col. Poor's regiment will march by land on the 
East Side to their intended destination. 

" I am very anxious these parties intended for the lines should move 
with all possible despatch consistent with their safety as the late fall 
of snow will favor Tories sending provisions to our cruel enemies 

"I am Sir y'r humble Servant 

" Col. Tupper can instruct the reconnoitring party to be sent in the 
boat when you want if necessary. If any cannot be hired they must 
be impressed. 

"To Brig. Gen. Paterson from Maj. Gen. McDougall, Peekskill." 

On December 29tb General Paterson wrote to General Mc- 
Dougall : 

" Fort Arnold, Deer, 39, 1778 
"Sir, 

"I send you enclosed a Letter from Mr. Belknap respecting some 
Provisions the Commissary had an order for, to supply this Gar- 
rison for the Winter, and Rum. I did not think myself authorized to 
act in the affair — should be very glad of your orders. The Commis- 
sary has informed me that he imagines large quantities of salt 
Provisions on hand will be condemned. The Pork delivered yesterday 
was very bad some of which was condemned by a committee appointed 



GENERAL PATERSON TO GENERAL McDOUGALL. 179 

for that purpose. We are preparing a machine to hoist the chain and 1779 
expect to be at work on it to-morrow. I have this day sent McGuire 
with a Party to try the ice to N. Windsor and stake a road if its pos- 
sible to pass with teams — hope to be able to Forage down immediately. 
I received your orders of yesterday which are this Day published here. 
" I am, Sir, your very humble 

" and ob'dt Servant 

" Jno. Paterson."* 
The copy of this letter is given below. 

" Fort Arnold Dec 29tb 1778 
"Sir. 

"I have sent you the two masons which will be with you this 
night. I send you enclosed a letter from Mr Belknap respecting some 
Provision the Commissary had an order for to supply this Garrison 
for the winter, and also Rum. I did not think myself authorized to 
act in the affair, should be very glad of your orders. The Commissary 
has informed me that he imagines large quantities of the salt provi- 
sion on hand will be condemned. The Pork delivered yesterday was 
very bad, some of which was condemned by a committee appointed 
for that purpose. 

" We are preparing a Machine to hoist the chain and expect to be at 
work on it tomoi-row. I have this day sent Mr McGuire with a party 
to try the Ice to N. Windsor and stake a road if possible to pass with 
Trains. Hope to be able to get Forage down immediately I rec'd 
your orders of yesterday which are this day published here. 

" I am Sir your humble & ob't servant 
"Jno Paterson." 

On Friday, January 2, 1779, Sewal records in his Diary — 

"Mustered Patersons Brigade & Captain Wells Co of Artillery for 
December 1778." 

And on Saturday, January 3d, he records : 

"Examined, abstracted and returned the Rolls of Paterson's Bri- 
gade. Somewhat dangerous crossing the ice." f 

General Paterson writes again to General McDougall : 

" Fort Arnold, 5tb Jany, 1779. 
"Sir. 

" I Rec'd yours by the mason — imagine you must have had mine 
before this will arrive. The flints were sent the day I received your 
letter — the Crows I v\Tote particularly about, but ana in hopes I shall 
find more as they have been left standing about in the Garrison. — have 

*New York Historical Society. 

f Sewal's Diary, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



180 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1779 ordered the Qr Master to make search, wherever they have been used, 
for them. The River has been so broken up that I durst not Send over 
your side ; it still continues so or I should have wrote before — An un- 
fortunate accident happened here the night before last — we had or- 
dered the seamen to lye on board tlie vessels to be ready if anything 
should happen in the night, being apprehensive the River would break 
up the chain before morning. Two of them being drunk got a quar- 
reling — in the fray one of them fell overboard and was drowned. I 
immediately ordered the delinquent under guard, since which he has 
been tried, the result of which I send you enclosed. I thought this my 
Duty it being of so criminal a nature. I believe the Parties had an 
enmity to each other, being dear Paddys possest of the highest sense 
of military Honor. 

"The repacking of the Salt Provisions is at present attended with 
difficulties, being frozen so hard that we Cannot take it out of the Bar- 
rels, but I think it requires very particular attention being very bad in 
general and I am afraid we shall notwithstanding our utmost care 
and attention lose a great part of it. All the Barrels that I can see 
have been bored through (I suppose to make the carriage lighter) 
which has drained the Brine from it and made it extremely rank and 
musty. I would wish we had some person who is acquainted with 
that Business to oversee it. Mr Elderkin says he Rec'd the whole of 
it from the Commissarj' at King's Ferry. 

' ' We continue working at the chain and take up about seventy or 
eighty links a day but it is a heavy piece of Business — in Time we 
shall Conquer. The vessels that were fast to the Chain are all safe — 
the two largest are cutt in quite to the shore — the armed sloop lies in 
the Bay, not so well secured as I could wish. Col. Kosciusko is doing 
the best he can to her, but what it is I don't know. 

" I am, Sir, with Respect, Your 

" humble Servant, 

" Jno. Paterson. 

" Hon. Maj. Gen. McDougall." * 

The copy of this letter is given below. 

" Fort Arnold. Jan Sth 1779. 
" Sir. 

" I rec'd yours by the Mason and imagine you must have had mine 
before this will arrive. The Flints were sent the day I rec'd your 
letter. The crows I wrote particularly about, but am in hopes I shall 
find more as they have been left scattering about in the Garrison, 
have ordered the Qt. Master to make search wherever they have been 
used, for them. 

* New York Historical Society. 



GENERAL PATERSOX TO GENERAL MCDOUGALL. 181 

"The River has been so broken up that I durst not send over your 1779 
Side. It still continues so or I should have wrote before. 

" An unfortunate accident happened here the night before last. We 
had ordered the Seamen to lye on board the vessels to be ready if any- 
thing should happen in the night, being apprehensive the River would 
brake up to the chain before morning. Two of them being drunk got 
a quarreling & in the fray one of them fell overboard and was 
drowned. I inamediately ordered the delinquent under Guard, since 
which he has been tried the result of which I send you enclosed. I 
thought this my duty it being of so criminal a nature. I believe the 
Parties had an enmity to each other being dear Paddy's posest of the 
highest sense of military honor. 

"The repairing of the Salt provisions is at present attended with 
difficulties being frozen so hard that we cannot take it out of the bar- 
rels, but I think it requires very particular attention being very bad in 
general and I am afraid we shall notwithstanding our utmost care and 
attention lose a great part of it. All the barrels that I can see have 
been bored through (I suppose to make the carriage lighter) which has 
drained the Brine from it and made it extremely rank and musty. I 
could wish we had some person who is acquainted with that Business 
to oversee it. Mr Elderkin says he rec'd the whole of it from the Com- 
missary at King's Ferry. 

"We continue working at the Chain and take up about 70 or 80 
links a day but it is a heavy piece of business. In time we shall con- 
quer. The vessels that were fast to the chain are all safe. The two 
largest are cut in quite to the shore. The armed sloop lies in the Bay, 
not so well secured as I could wish. Col. Kosciusko is doing the best 
he can to her, but what it is, I dont know. 

" I am Sir with respect your humble servant 

" Jno Paterson. 

" Hon. Maj. Gen. McDougall." 

Oa January 6 General Paterson wrote to General Me- 
Dougall : 

" Fort Arnold, Jan 6th 1779 
"Sir. 

" I have this moment rec'd your commands. Am surprised that 
Capt. Redding should have marched without FUnts. It must be 
through forgetfulness, he has always behaved well, both in action and 
out, since I have known him. 

' ' The Party will march early in the morning provided agreeable to 
your directions. The Capt. will wait on you this evening for your 
orders. 

"I have sent to each of those parties since they marched, shoes 



182 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1779 sufficient for the whole. They have arrived before this time. We go 
on briskly this day getting up the chain. 

" I am your most devoted humble servant 

' ' Jno Paterson. 
"Maj. Gen. McDougall." 

The history of the chain to which General Paterson refers 
is given below. The history of the other chain, at Fort 
Montgomery, has already been given. This chain at West 
Point was by far the most important obstruction to the navi- 
gation of the Hudson River. It was placed in position by 
mechanics and engineers in General Parson's command. It 
appears, from General Paterson's letters, that the chain had 
been broken by the ice. It required the greatest effort and 
skill on his part to recover and repairit. The position of 
the chain is shown on map No. 13, page 175. 

Immediately after the return of Sir Henry Clinton's expe- 
dition to New York, after the capture of Fort Montgomery in 
the fall of 1777, the obstructions in the Hudson River south 
of West Point having failed entirely of their purpose, attention 
was directed to West Point itself, which presented some very 
peculiar advantages for fortification. As the points on the 
Hudson River to be defended were at West Point or north 
of it, it was looked upon as one of the most important posi- 
tions to be defended. The river at this point is only about 
1400 feet wide, much narrower than anywhere else. It forms 
a bend almost at right angles, so as to give the appearance, 
when entering upon it, of a land-locked lake. The banks on 
both sides of it are high, admitting of the construction of 
batteries which can readily defend the river, and can easily 
themselves be defended from points on the hills at a higher 
elevation ; in addition to which the wind, owing to the crook- 
edness of the river, is very uncertain, so that any vessel 
coming up the riv^ with a fair wind must lose a large part 
of her headway as she turns the point. The speed of tbe 
vessel being thus much reduced, the force of the blow against 
the obstruction would be much less likely to injure it, and 



THE CHAIN AT WEST POINT 183 

even if the wind were fair and the vessel should regain her 1778 
headway, she would be under a heavy fire of shot and shell 
before she reached the obstruction, for which reason it would 
be necessary to have a much less formidable obstruction at 
that point. West Point itself, with the conditions then ex- 
isting, was less likel}^ to be taken by land approaches, on 
account of the hilly nature of the country, and because it was 
such a short distance fi'om the center of supplies. All of 
these conditions prevailed during the whole of the Revolu- 
tion, and, however much the navigation of the river was im- 
peded north or south of it. West Point never was taken, 
although the British forces held New York, and though 
every effort was made both to gain and hold the naviga- 
tion of the river, which they strove so earnestly for and in 
which they were always defeated. 

The chain across the Hudson River at West Point was 
placed there in the spring of 1778, The necessities of the 
case made General Washington urge upon the officers in 
command at West Point a more thorough fortification of this 
place. In a letter dated December 2, 1777, he instructed 
Greneral Putnam to consult with Governor Clinton and Gen- 
eral Parsons and the French engineer, Radiere, with the view 
of rendering West Point impregnable against any attacks of the 
enemy, and thus prevent communication between the British 
in New York and those in Canada and also the cutting of 
the colonies in two, which had been considered so desirable 
by the English. The letter of General Washington is given 
below : 

" Head Quarters, 2 December, 1777. 
" Dear Sir : 

" The importance of the Hudson River in the present contest, and 
the necessity of defending it, are subjects which have been so fre- 
quently and fully discussed, and are so well understood, that it is 
unnecessary to enlarge upon them. These facts at once appear, when 
it is considered that it runs through a whole state ; that it is the 
only passage by which the enemy from New York, or any part of 
our coast, can ever hope to co-operate with an army from Canada ; 
that the possession of it is indispensably essential to preserve the com- 



184 LIFE OF MA.IOK-GEXERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 munication between the eastern, middle and southern states ; and 
further, that upon its security, in a great measure, depend our chief 
suppUes of flour for the subsistence of such forces, as we may have 
occasion for, in the course of the war, either in the Eastern or Northern 
Departments, or in the country lying high up on the west side of it. 
These facts are familiar to all ; they are familiar to you. I therefore 
request you, in the most urgent terms, to turn your most serious and 
active attention to this infinitely important object. Seize the present 
opportunity, and employ your whole force and all the means in your 
power for erecting and completing, as far as it shall be possible, such 
works and obstructions as may be necessary to defend and secure the 
river against any future attempts of the enemy. You will consult 
Governor Clinton, General Parsons, and the French Engineer, Colonel 
Radiere, upon the occasion. By gaining the passage, you know, the 
enemy have already laid waste and destroyed all the houses, mills and 
towns accessible to them. Unless proper measures are taken to pre- 
vent them, they will renew their ravages in the spring, or as soon as 
the season will admit, and perhaps Albany, the only town in the state 
of any importance remaining in our hands, may undergo a like fate, 
and a general havoc and devastation take place. 

" To prevent these evils, therefore, I shall expect that you will exert 
every nerve, and employ your whole force in future, while and when- 
ever it is practicable, in constructing and forwarding the proper works 
and means of defence. The troops must not be kept out on command, 
and acting in detachments to cover the country below, which is a 
consideration infinitely less important and interesting. 

" I am. Dear Sir, &c. " G. Washington " 

In a letter to Governor Clinton, of the same date, Washing- 
ton showed the anxiety that he felt in regard to this subject. 
Governor Clinton, in his reply, urged the construction of a 
strong fortress at West Point, opposite Fort Constitution, 
which was probably the first suggestion from any official 
source of the fortification of that point, though a plan of doing 
so had been discussed at the time of the construction of 
Forts Montgomery and Clinton. 

At the same time Washington wrote to Major-General 
Gates, directing him, " with a certain part of the Northern 
Army and the assistance of the Militia of New York and the 
Eastern States, to attempt the recovery of the posts upon the 
North River from the enemy, and to put them, if recovered, 
in the best posture of defence." 



THE CHAIN AT WEST POINT. 185 

General Gates, however, was about that time appointed 
President of the Board of War, and did not act. Washing- 
ton also addressed a letter to Governor Clinton, requesting 
him " to take the chief direction and superintendence of this 
business." Governor Clinton replied that he was so occu- 
lted that he could not accept the appointment, but would 
gladly cooperate with others in the matter. 

The obstruction of the Hudson River at this point, there- 
fore, remained under the direction of General Putnam, who, 
early in January, 1778, brought the matter before the Pro- 
vincial Convention of New York, which, on Thursday, Janu- 
ary 8, 1778, passed the following resolution : 

" Application being made by Major General Putnam, Commanding 
Officer of the Middle Department, that this Convention would appoint 
a Committee to confer with him relative to the necessary works to be 
constructed for the defences of the passes in the Highlands : 

"Resolved, That the General's request be complied with, and that 
Mr. Scott, Mr. Pawling, Mr. Wisner, Mr. Kilian Van Rensselaer, Mr. 
Drake, Mr. Hathorn, and Mr. Hoffman, be a Committee for that 
purpose." 

Further action followed the next day : 

" Friday, Jan. 9, 1778. 

" General Scott, from the Committee appointed yesterday evening 
to confer with Gen. Putnam and Gen. James Clinton, the Lieutenant 
Colonel of Engineers, and other military officers, relative to the neces- 
sary works to be constructed for the passes in the Highlands, and the 
place or places where the same ought to be erected, reported that they 
had conferred with the said Generals and other officers ; that on such 
conference there was a disagreement in sentiment between those gen- 
tlemen (arising from certain different facts alleged) as to the place 
where such works ought to be erected ; and therefore that it was the 
opinion of the said Committee and the military gentlemen, that this 
Convention appoint Commissioners to view the several passes on Hud- 
son River, with the Generals and other officers, and advise in fixing 
the places where such fortifications should be erected. 

" Resolved, That John Sloss Hobart, Esq., one of the Justices of the 
Supreme Court, the Hon. Robt. R. Livingston, Chancellor of this State, 
Mr. Piatt, Mr. Wisner, and Colonel Hathorn, be, and hereby are, ap- 
pointed Commissioners for the purpose above mentioned, and proceed 
on that business with all possible despatch.'' 



186 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 This committee reported as follows : 

" Wednesday, Jan. 14, 1778. 

" Your Committee, who were sent to ascertain the place for fixing 
a chain and erecting fortifications for obstructing the navigation of 
Hudson's River, beg leave to report : That they have carefully viewed 
the ground on which Fort Clinton lately stood and its environs, and 
find that the ground is so intersected with long deep hollows, that the 
enemy might approach without any annoyance from the garrison 
within the Fort to within a few yards of the walls, unless a redoubt 
should be raised to clear the hollows next the Fort, which must not be 
built at such distance from the Fort that it could not be supported 
from thence in case of an attack, so that the enemy might make them- 
selves masters of the redoubt the first dark night after their landing, 
which would be a good work, ready to their hand, for annoying the 
Fort and facilitating their operations against it ; and, together with the 
eminences and broken grounds within a short distance of the Fort, 
would render it impossible for the garrison to resist a general assa,ult 
for many hours together. Another objection that appeared to the 
Committee was the want of earth on the spot, which would reduce the 
engineer to the necessity of erecting his works entirely of timber, 
which must be brought to Pooploop's Kill in rafts, and from thence 
drawn up a steep and difiicult road to the top of the hill. The rafts 
cannot be made till the water is warm enough for men to work in it, 
by which it is probable that a fort cannot be erected before the ships of 
the enemy will come up the River. Beside, at this place, the chain 
must be laid across the river so that it will receive the whole force of 
the ships coming with all the strength of tide and wind, on a line of 
three or four miles. Add to these, if the enemy should be able to pos- 
sess themselves of the passes in the mountains through which they 
marched to the attacks of Forts Montgomery and Clinton, it would be 
extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the militia of the country to 
raise the siege. 

" Upon viewing the country at and about West Point, the Commit- 
tee found that there were several places at which the enemy might 
land and proceed immediately to some high grounds that would 
command a fort erected at West Point at the distance of six or seven 
hundred yards, from which they might carry on their approaches 
through a light gravelly soil, so that it would be impossible for the fort 
to stand a long siege. But to balance this disadvantage in this place, 
there is plenty of earth. The timber may be brought to the spot by 
good roads from the high grounds at the distance of one to three miles. 
Three hundred feet less of chain will be requisite at this place than at 
Fort Clinton. It will be laid across in a place where vessels going up 
the river most usually lose their headway. Water batteries may be 



CONTRACT FOR THE CHAIN. 187 

built on both sides of the river for protecting the chain and annoying 
the ships coming up the river, which will be completely commanded 
from the walls of the fort. There are so many passes across the moun- 
tains to this place, that it will be almost impossible for the enemy to 
prevent the militia from coming to the relief of the garrison. 

" From these considerations, the Committee are led to conclude that 
the most proper place to obstruct the navigation of the river is at West 
Point ; but are at the same time fully convinced that no obstructions 
on the banks of the river can effectually secure the country, unless a 
body of light troops, to consist of at least two thousand effective men, 
be constantly stationed in the mountains, while the navigation of the 
river is practicable, to obstruct the enemy in their approach by land. 

' ' John Sloss Hobart, 
" Henry Wisner, 
"John Hathorn, 
" POUGHKEEPSIE, Jan. 14th, 1778." " Zeph Platt. 

By direction of General Putnam, Hugh Hughes, D.Q.M.G., 
visited the Sterling Iron Works of Noble, Townsend & Co. on 
the 2d of February, and entered into a contract with the pro- 
prietors to construct a chain. This contract was as follows : 

" Articles of Agreement between Noble, Townsend & Company, Pro- 
prietors of the Sterling Iron Works, in the State of New York, of the 
one part, and Hugh Hughes, D.Q.M.G. to the Army of the United 
States, of the other part, witnesseth : 

" That the said Noble, Townsend & Company, jointly and severally 
engage to have made and ready to be delivered at their works to the 
said Hugh Hughes, D.Q.M.G., or to the D.Q.M.G. of the Middle Depart- 
ment for the time being, on or before the first day of April next ensu- 
ing the date hereof, or as much sooner as circumstances will admit, an 
iron chain of the following dimensions and quality, that is, in length 
five hundred yards, each link about two feet long, to be made of the 
best sterling iron, two inches and one quarter square, or as near thereto 
as possible, with a swivel to every hundred feet, and a clevis to every 
thousand feet, in the same manner as those of the former chain. 

" The said Noble, Townsend & Company also engage to have made 
and ready to be delivered at least twelve tons of anchors of the afore- 
said iron, and of such sizes as the said Hugh Hughes or his successors 
in office shall direct in writing, as soon as the completion of the chain 
will admit. 

" In consideration of which, the said Hugh Hughes, in behalf of the 
United States, agrees to pay to the said Noble, Townsend & Company, 
or their order, at the rate of four-hundred and forty pounds for every 
ton weight of chain and anchors delivered as before mentioned, unless 



188 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 the general regulations on trade, provisions, &c., which are now sup- 
posed to be framed by deputies from the United States, shall be pub- 
lished and take effect before the expiration of four months from the 
date of this ; in which case the price is to be only four hundred pounds 
per ton for the said chain and anchors. The payment, if demanded, 
to be made in such proportion as the work shall be ready to be deliv- 
ered, which shall be determined in ten days after requisition made by 
a number of competent judges, not less than three nor more than five, 
unconcerned with the proprietors, or the works, and if condemned, to be 
completed at the expense of the said Company, who are also to repair, 
as aforesaid, all failures of their work, whenever happening, whether 
at the works or river, or in extending it across. 

" The said Hugh Hughes also engages to procure of the Governor of 
this State, for the said Noble, Townsend & Company, an exemption for 
nine months from the date hereof from military duty for fifty artifi- 
cers that are steadily employed at the said chain and anchors till com- 
pleted. Agreeable to the said exemption, the said Company complying 
with the terms thereof ; providing also that the said Company give the 
said Hugh Hughes, or his successors in office, the refusal by letter of 
all the bar iron, anchors, &c., made at the said works in the said term 
of nine months, at the current price, unless what is necessary to ex- 
change for clothing and other articles for the use of the works. 

"It is also agreed by the said parties that if the teams of the said 
Company shall transport the said chain or anchors, or any part thereof, 
to any assigned post, they shall receive for such services the same pay 
as shall be given by the United States for the like ; the teams of the 
Company being exempted from impress by any of the Q.M.G's depu- 
ties during the space of nine months. 

" Lastly, the said Company engage to use their utmost endeavors to 
keep seven fir^s at forging and ten at welding, if assisted with such 
hands as are necessary and can be spared from the Army, in case of 
their not being able to procure others, the said Company making de- 
duction for their labor. 

'■ In Witness whereof, the parties have interchangeably subscribed 
their names this second day of February, one thousand, seven hundred 
and seventy-eight, and in the second year of American Independence. 

" Peter Townsend. 
" In behalf of Noble & Company. 
" Hugh Hughes, 

" In presence of "In behalf of United States. 

"P. TiLLINGHAST." 

On the 13th of February, General Putnam wrote to the 
Commander-in-Chief as follows : 
" At my request, the Legislature of this State have appointed a Com- 



Putnam's negligence. 189 

mittee to affix the places and manner of securing the River, and to 177^ 
afford some assistance in expediting the work. The state of affairs 
now at this post, you will observe is as follows : The Chain and neces- 
sary anchor are contracted for, to be completed by the first of April ; 
and from the intelligence I have received, I have reason to believe they 
will be completed by that time. Parts of the boom intended to have 
been used at Fort Montgomery, sufficient for this place, are remain- 
ing. Some of the iron is exceedingly bad. This I hope to have re- 
placed with good iron soon. The Chevaux-de-Frize will be completed 
by the time the River will admit of sinking them (PoUopel's Island). 
The batteries near the water and the fort to cover them are laid out. 
The latter is within the walls, six hundred yards around, twenty-one 
feet base, fourteen feet high, the Talus two inches to the foot. This I 
fear is too large to be completed by the time expected. Governor 
Clinton and the Committee have agreed to this plan, and nothing on 
mj' part shall be wanted to complete it in the best and most expedi- 
tious manner. Barracks and huts for about three hundred men are 
completed, and barracks for about the same number are nearly 
covered. A road to the river has been made with great difficulty." 

Having given these general orders, General Putnam went 
to Connecticut, leaving General Parsons in command, and, 
having no explicit authority, General Parsons only super- 
vised the works, and very little progress was made. The 
people of the province, considering that the work was really 
under General Putnam, became very angry at his delay, and 
refused to render the necessary assistance while he was 
nommally in command, Putnam was very much censured 
by the residents in the vicinity of Forts Clinton and Mont- 
gomery, and especially by those engaged in their defense, 
for his failure to prevent the attack of Sir Henry Clinton on • 
those forts, as they claimed he might just as well have de- 
feated him if he had been on the alert. On this account, on 
the recommendation of General Washington, Congress on the 
81st of March ordered that all the troops in the State of New 
York should be under one general officer, who should be 
authorized to concentrate the whole force in the Highlands 
until such time as the fortifications and obstructions there 
were out of danger. Public opinion became so strong against 
Putnam that Washington appointed General McDougall to 



190 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 the command in the HighLnnds. Radi5re, the French en- 
gineer, finding that there was no really responsible person in 
command, went to Congress and resigned his appointment. 
He was succeeded bj Kosciusko, who came to the works on 
the 26th of March. General McDougall arrived on the 
28th, and took command, and the operation of lajdng the 
chain commenced at once. Kosciusko was very vigorous in 
carrying on the work, and succeeded in gaining the confi- 
dence of the officers as well as those who were under him. 
The operations were now pushed with great vigor. Governor 
Clinton, as he had promised to "render any assistance in his 
power," had supervised the work of the obstructions to the 
navigation of the river, and had directed Captain Machin, 
who had been in charge of the obstruction at Pollopel's 
Island, to take charge of the obstruction at West Point. 

The obstruction at West Point consisted of a boom and a 
chain. The boom was made of logs twelve inches in diameter 
and fifteen feet in length, left round at the ends and dressed in 
the center to an octagonal shape. Around the end of each 
log was a band of iron, to which two links of a chain, made of 
two-inch bar iron, were attached. These bands were securely 
fastened to the log. The boom made in this way, with logs 
at short distances apart, stretched across the whole width of 
the river. It was very strong and was placed in front of the 
chain to protect it against the first blow of a vessel. The 
chain was made according to contract. 

When the boom was in position, several persons walked 
over it from shore to shore, and it was even thought that 
it might be used to serve the purpose of a bridge for the 
transportation of troops in case there was any necessity for it. 
Its construction was such that it might easily have been con- 
verted into a bridge, had that been necessary. 

The weight of the iron in the boom is specified in the bill of 
Noble, Townsend & as Co. 135 tons of wrought iron, made into 
booms, bolts, clips, chain, swivels, and bands, all of which 
were found upon the material raised from the river. It was 
commenced with the intention of using it at Fort Mont- 



OBSTRUCTIONS AT WEST POINT. 191 

gomery and as a substitute for the rafts of timber which were 1'^' 
used there. Its application there was made useless by the 
surrender of that fort. 

The chain was made up at New Windsor and floated down 
to West Point, there to be made ready to be placed in position. 
It was held up by very large logs, about fifteen feet long, 
pointed at the ends to lessen the strain made on them by the 
force of the current at high and low tide. These had been 
floated down the river and bolted to it. Each link was 2 
feet long and 2j{ inches square and 12 inches wide, and 
weighed from 130 to 150 pounds. The whole chain weighed 
180 tons and was 1500 feet long. The logs were spaced at 
short distances from each other and the chain placed on top of 
them and fastened to each log by staples. To avoid the great 
pressure of the ice against it, the boom was loosened in the 
wmter, and the obstruction piled on the shore. 

The boom of chain logs, as it was called, left New Wind- 
sor on April 7th. The chain, ready for being put into place, 
was sent down on April 16th, and was stretched across the 
river on the 30th, when the boom and chain were placed across 
the river. The obstruction served to render still safer the 
strong fortification at West Point, where Washington had all 
his powder stored, and which could fall into the hands of the 
enemy only through the treachery of a traitor. 

In order to give greater stability to the chain, a number of 
anchors were dropped at given distances and made fast to 
it by means of cables. The chain was finished within less 
than six weeks after it was ordered. It was made in a 
little stone building, whose ruins may yet be seen, called 
Augusta Forge. The iron was brought as ore from a mine 
four miles west, smelted in a bloomery forge, and the links 
hammered out by hand. The neighboring farmers carted the 
links as they were made to the army engineers at New Wind- 
sor, who superintended the joining and placing together of the 
chain. It was fastened to great blocks of stone on each side 
of the river. It took a detail of 250 men to place it in posi- 
tion. 



192 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 After the war about tliirtj-five tons of the chain was sold 
to the West Point foundry at Cold Spring, where it was 
worked up. Sixteen links of the chain have been preserved 
at West Point, including a swivel and a clavis. Two of the 
largest links weigh 130 and 129 pounds. Two of the smallest 
weigh 109 and 98 pounds. The mean weight of the links is 
114 pounds. A portion of the chain became detached, and as 
the logs which supported it, having been in the water for 
many years, were water-soaked, it sank to the bottom of the 
river. Some of this was afterwards recovered and is now on 
sale in New York. It is offered for sale at the rate of five 
cents per pound, a price which has prevented, and will prob- 
ably prevent, its acquisition by any one who would be likely to 
preserve it. Mr. A. S. Hewitt preserved, with great care and 
pride, three links of it at his country place at Eingwood. These 
links were sent to the Centennial Exhibition in 1876. There 
they disappeared, and he has never been able to recover them. 

In making the final removal of the obstruction, a portion 
of it became detached and sank to the bottom of the river. 
After it had lain there about seventy-five years it was re- 
moved in the summer of 1855, and part of it deposited in 
Washington's headquarters at Newburgh. 

This was the second chain used for the obstruction of the 
Hudson River, the first being the one that was used at Forts 
Montgomery and Clinton farther below. 

It is said that part of the plan of Arnold's treason was that 
he should weaken the force of the chain by taking a link out 
of it, under the pretense that it needed repair, so diminishing 
its strength that it should cease to be an obstruction, and keep- 
ing the link in the repair shop until the English could easily 
get possession of West Point. This could hardly liave been 
done without letting down the chain when the link was re- 
moved, but a single bar could easily have been taken out 
from alternate sides of the boom, and so weaken it as to make 
it incapable of resisting the force of a vessel of any size brought 
against it. 



THE HATED HIGHLANDS. 193 

Of the four attempts to obstruct the navigation of the Hud- 1" 
son River two were failures and one was never used. The 
last one, aided and defended by the forts, was successful. 
None of these would have resisted the shock of a war vessel 
of to-day, but, in order to fully understand and appreciate 
tiieir importance, we must remember that those were the days 
when neither steam nor electricity were used, that for loco- 
motion on water we were entirely dependent on sails, and that 
the obstructions, which would be of no use now, would have 
been and were entirely effective then. 

The Revolutionary War, until after the surrender of Bur- 
goyne, was conducted on both sides with a view to either ob- 
taining or regaining possession of the Hudson River. Long 
after the navigation was entirely lost to the British, its posses- 
sion was so coveted that they felt themselves obliged to keep a 
large force in New York, with the liope that they might get 
possession of it by some false move of the Americans, while 
Washington was obliged to keep some of his best officers and 
troops there, always on the watch for its safety, so that the High- 
lands of the Hudson, on account of the necessary inactivity 
there, got, and for a long time retained, the name of " the hated 
Highlands " among officers and men. Never was it more true 
that " They also serve who only stand and wait" than it was 
here. Eternal vigilance was then, as now, the only chance of 
safety. From West Point reconnoissances in force were con- 
stantly made by the Americans both on the east side and the 
west side of the river, to ascertain what the movements of the 
enemy were, and to draw their attention away from the river by 
leading them to suppose that the army was about to move from , 
West Point in another direction. They on their part made 
feints to produce the impression that they had abandoned all 
thought of movement in the direction of West Point, hoping 
to be able to take advantage of any relaxation of vigilance on 
the part of the Americans. We now hardly realize how much 
we owe to West Point and to the obstructions of the river 
which kept that important point permanently in our posses- 



19-i LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1778 sion. Not only was it our strong watch-tower and fortress 
during tlie Revolution, but after the Revolution was over, it 
was the place from which the Society of the Cincinnati was 
formed in 1782 and 1783, and which in after years became 
the seat of learning which furnished the country with the 
great engineers, both civil and military, who were so necessary 
to its growth. Until after the late civil war. West Point fur- 
nished nearly all the engineers who aided so much in the de- 
velopment of this country. Since then other institutions have 
become famous, but we owe no less a debt of gratitude to 
West Point. AVe can only repay the debt we owe to our an- 
cestors for defending and providing for the future defense of 
our country, by trying to keep up in this and succeeding 
generations the high standard of virtue and patriotism which 
they maintained. The Revolution was not, as some of its 
enemys have maintained, the action of a mob. It was the 
deliberate movement of a people whose every action, in town, 
•county, and colony debate, was regulated by the strictest 
laws of parliamentary procedure, and whose efforts to reach 
the wisest and best conclusions resulted in forming, as Glad- 
stone says, " some of the best and wisest legislators and jurists 
that the world has ever seen, superior to those of any other 
€poch." 

This year was one of constant watchfulness at West Point 
and elsewhere, but it was also one of great discouragement. 
Enlistments were slow. The soldiers and people were tired 
of the war. The people thought that the continued requisi- 
tions made on them for supplies made them only a prey 
to the commissioners, quartermasters, forage-masters, and 
various schemers and monopolists. The farmers thought 
it was of little importance to which party they belonged. 
The British seized what they had because they were " rebels," 
and the Americans because they were tories, neither taking 
much trouble to inquire what the facts were. In any event, 
loss was on their side. Each family had been allowed in 
the spring one bushel and a half of wheat until harvest; 



FALSE REPORTS CIRCULATED. 195 

whatever over and above that amount they had was taken 1'' 
by the commissary. It is true it was paid for, but the pay- 
ment was made either in Continental currency, which was 
very much depreciated, or commissary receipts, which were 
practically worthless. The forage-master took their hay, rye, 
buckwheat, and Indian corn, and gave an equivalent of no 
greater value than the commissary receipts. Forage became so 
scarce that messages had to be sent by footmen. The army, 
on the other hand, were poorly housed, many of them without 
shoes or stockings, and nearly all of them in rags. The reality 
was bad enough, but everything was exaggerated by the 
spies of the British, who predicted that by spring the 
army would be dissolved. They expected to see us melt 
away like the snow. They circulated most industriously in 
the South the report that the Americans were about to force 
all negroes into the army, and that only one thousand dol- 
lars in Continental currency was to be paid for each negro. 
Northern blacks were to fare no better. They reported the 
Americans dissatisfied with the French and about to break 
the unnatural alliance between a Protestant and a Roman 
Catholic power. They circulated the report that the Indians 
were about to rise en masse and massacre the Americans. 
They succeeded in convincing themselves, but the patriots, 
whatever their sufferings, remained, with but few exceptions, 
true to their cause, not only in the face of the enemy, but 
while cold and hunger and privations of every kind were 
to be endured daily. 

The campaign of 1778 was brought to a close, on the part 
of the Americans, principally by want of money. Congress 
had no power to impose taxes. Each State had more than 
it could do to take care of its own indebtedness. The country 
was flooded with counterfeits of the Continental currency, 
manufactured in England. The real and the counterfeit were 
equally worthless. The seasons had, however, been favora- 
ble, and a rich harvest had been gathered. The country was 
prosperous. Congress, however, was blind and deaf; it re- 



196 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1~'^9 fused either to see or to hear of the wants of the armj. 

Washington's repeated requests for a standing army were 
unnoticed. Congress persisted in making annual drafts, 
which left only the nucleus on which to constantly reorgan- 
ize the army. They would not hear even of long enlist- 
ments. General Washington describes the condition of both 
forces at the end of the year as follows : " After two years of 
maneuvering and the strangest vicissitudes, both armies are 
brought back to the very point from which they set out, and 
the offending party at the beginning is reduced to the use of 
the spade and pickax for defense. The hand of Providence 
has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse 
than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that 
has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligations." 

In every act of the British they had as yet depended on 
their fleets as the basis of their operations and lost their effi- 
cacy when they were separated from them. We had had no 
navy, but there had been some fine maneuvering on Lake 
Champlain. In the summer of 1778 Paul Jones made such a 
demonstration on the English coast as to win for his exploits 
great honor to himself and great confidence in the cause of 
the colonies, and every demonstration of regard for the man 
and sympathy for the cause he represented was made by the 
various countries of Europe. 

The channel fleets of England and France had an inde- 
cisive engagement in July, which opened hostilities by sea. 
Spain, on two different occasions, offered to mediate between 
the two countries, but the English refused mediation ; and 
finally, on April 12, 1779, Spain signed a treaty with France, 
and declared war against England in June. She then sent a 
fleet from Cadiz to join the French, 

The commencement of the year 1779 found Congress again 
without money. It applied to the States for help, but the 
States did not respond. Finally Congress issued fifty mil- 
lions more of Continental currency, and as much more at 
various times during the year. In June the Continental dol- 



MOVEMENTS OF THE TROOPS. 197 

lar was worth only five cents, and at the end of the year, 1779 
when there were two hundred millions in circulation, the 
dollar was worth only three cents. The country was bank- 
rupt, and the seeds whose growth produced such serious re- 
sults after the war was over, and which threatened to overturn 
all that had been gained by the long struggle of the Eevolu- 
tion, were already germinating. 

From the Highlands, on January 19, 1779, General Pater- 
son and his fellow-officers sent forward a petition in behalf of 
themselves and the soldiers under their command for pro- 
visions and clothing. Detachments from his brigade were 
occasionally ordered down to the outposts near AVhite Plains, 
which were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Aaron Burr. 
On February 27tli General McDougall ordered Burr : " If 
the enemy move or appear in force on the river, send up 
Paterson's detachments by forced marches. They will be 
needed at the Point." On March 23d General Paterson 
issued orders from Fishkill. On April 10th he and Major 
Haskell secured furloughs. He was back at his post on 
June 12th, and again took command, and was there in 
the fall and winter of 1779 and until April, 1780. Major 
Haskell was his brigade major during this campaign. 

On June 4, 1779, General McDougall writes : 

" Budd's, in the Highlands, 
" opposite to West Point, 4 June, 1779. 
" Sir, 

" General Paterson not having returned from furlough, I ap- 
pointed General Parsons to command at West Point, as he is well 
acquainted with the post." 

On June 5th Colonel William Malcolm writes : 

" On the road leading from 
" Fort Montgomery towards the Furnace, 
" 11 o'clock, A.M., 5 June, 1779. 
"Sir, 

" General Parsons took command of Fort Clinton, on the 3d 
instant, in the evening. The garrison consists of Learned's, Pater- 
son's, and the Carolina brigade, about seventeen hundred strong." * 
* Revolutionary letters to Washington. 



198 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1779 General Paterson, who had been away from the Point, re- 
turned to liis post on the evening of June 11, 1779. 
The following extracts are taken from Sewal's Diary : 

" Sunday July 4. 1779. Anniversarj^ of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, 13 cannon were discharged about noon at this post. Attended 
Divine service in the forenoon at the new Barracks and at Genl. Pater- 
son's brigade in the afternoon. 

" Tuesday July 6. Mustered Paterson's and Larned's Brigades and 
the artillery. A shower prevented mustering the Carolinians. The 
thunder struck on the other side killed one and wounded a number 
more soldiers. 

" Friday July 16. Paterson's and Nixon's brigades marched off from 
the Village. Previous to this our Light Infantry under the command 
of B. Gen. Wayne had taken the fort at Stony point and made prisoners 
the whole." * 

On July 17th General Howe writes : 

" Peekskill, Saturday, 17 July, 1779. 
"Sir, 

"I joined the division at the Continental Village, the last evening, 
and arrived at this post at five this morning. I now only halt for 
the return of a reconnoitering party, sent out last night, and shall 
immediately proceed to execute your Excellency's orders. The field- 
pieces you suppose to have been taken on with the brigades, are not 
with them. General Nixon informs me that there are not any at- 
tached to his brigade ; tliose of General Paterson I think to send for." f 

On July 19th General Heath writes : 

" Mandeville's, 19 July, 1779. 
" Dear General : 

"I was lionored with your favor of yesterday, on my way from 
Bald Hill to this place. I had before ordered Parson's brigade to en- 
camp near Robinson's ; Huntington's near the place where Parson's 
encamped before they left this place ; Paterson's between that place 
and Danforth's ; Nixon's, at the gorge of the mountains. Glover's 
is not yet arrived. May I be permitted to request that, when it 
does, it may be attached to General Howe's division ? " 

Sewal in his Diary of July 20th says : 

" By a general arrangement of the army, Genl. Paterson's brigade 
was ordered on to the point which together with Larned's and the 
North Carolina Brigades compose the garrison at West point under the 
command of Genl. McDougal commandant." * 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 

f Correspondence of the Revolution : Letters to Washington. 



THE GARRISON AT WEST POINT. 199 

In July, 1779, the enemy invaded and burned a number of 1779 
towns in Connecticut, including New Haven. In that month 
General Heath returned from Boston and took command in 
the Highlands. He despatched troops to Connecticut, and on 
the 19th of July writes that Paterson's brigade was j^osted at 
Nelson's Point, opposite West Point. A few days previously 
it had marched as far down as Peekskill and back again. On 
the night of the 15th of July, Stony Point was stormed by a 
picked American coi'ps, and Washington expected a counter- 
move from the enemy. He arranged his army east and west 
of West Point, making it the center, with his headquarters 
there. 

On the 19th the following order was issued : 

" Head Quarters West Point July 19tii 1779 
" Gen' Washington's Orders — The Garrison at West Point compre- 
hending the Island, will at present consist of Paterson's, North Caro- 
lina, and Late Learned's Brigades under Major Genl McDougal Com- 
mander of the Garrison." * 

In his orders on July 20th, Washington says : " The gar- 
rison at West Point, including the island" (that is. Constitu- 
tion Island) " will for the present consist of Paterson's, 
Larned's, and the Carolina brigades. General McDougall com- 
mandant of the garrison." It was the "Point" which was 
threatened, and it was therefore strengthened with a division 
under a major-general. Troops were detailed to work on the 
forts every day. General Paterson's men were engaged at 
the batteries at the "Point" and at Fort Putnam above it 
(see map No. 12). 

On the 21st the following garrison order was issued : 

" West Point July 21st 1779 
" Genl Paterson and Commander Bailey will cause the Water Casks 
to be examined and filled in the several enclosed works : the Quarter 
Master of the Garrison will furnish them with all the Casks he can 
get from the Commissary." * 

On the 22d the following order was issued : 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



200 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1779 " Head Quarters July 22nd 1779. 

" The following is the formation of Nixon's, Paterson's, Learned's, 
and N. Carolina Brigades, which is to take place immediately for the 

present campaign. Paterson's Brigade to furnish for the Light 

Infantry." * 

On the 28d the following order was issued : 

" Head Quarters West Point, Moors House. July 23rd 1779 
" A Board of General Officers to be composed of Maj. General's Heath 
and St. Clair, and Brig. Genls Nixon, Persons, Smallwood, Knox and 
Paterson are to sit tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock at Geni Heath's 
Quarters to make a complete and final arrangement of the Officers in 
the Massachusetts Line. The Board will be pleased to fix the precise 
Rank and Station of every Field Officer, and also the precedence of 
the Captains. — It was omitted to be mentioned in the orders of yes- 
terday that the Light Infantry of Nixon's and Learned's Brigades are 
to form one Battalion — that from Pate rsons and N. Carolina another. " * 

And on the 29th the following order : 

" Head Quarters Moors House. 29 July 1779 
" The following is a Detail for Fatigue agreeable to yesterdays 

orders — to be divided into four Reliefs Paterson 400, Relief 100, 

75 at the Point, and 25 to attend the Mason's at Fort Putnam." * 

Glover's brigade having returned from Rhode Island, all 
the Massachusetts troops were on the North River. During 
the summer the work on the uncompleted forts at the " Point " 
was pushed with great vigor, under General Kosciusko. In 
August General Paterson went down to Peekskill, but was 
at the " Point " on the 8d. 

On August 15th, Sewal in his Diary records that he dined 
with five other officers of Paterson's brigade at headquarters. 
" Heard his Excellency read accounts which he had received 
of an engagement 'between the British and French fleets in 
the West Indies, of whom the latter were the conquerors. 
Attended public worship witli Paterson's and Larned's bri- 
gades in the evening." 

General Paterson was brigadier of the day on August 3d, 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester. Mass. 



MASONIC LODGES. 201 

6th, 9th, 12th, 18th, 21st, 2ith, 26th, 31st ; September 12th, 1T79 
15th, 19th, 22(1; October 24th; November 5th, 13th, 16th, 
19th, 22d, 24th, 27th. 

On the 23d of June, 1779, Washington established his 
headquarters at New Windsor, on the Hudson, near New- 
burgh. Tlie following day, American Union Lodge met at 
Nelson's Point, and proceeded from thence to West Point to 
celebrate the festival of St. John the Baptist. Being joined 
by a number of Masonic brethren from the brigades there 
and on Constitution Island, they proceeded from General Pat- 
erson's quarters, on the opposite side of the river, to the Robin- 
son House, where they retired to a bower in front of the house 
and were joined by General Washington and his family. 
Here addresses were delivered by Rev. Dr. Hitchcock and 
Major William Hull (afterwards General Hull, of the war of 
1812). Dinner, music, toasts, and songs closed the entertain- 
ment. Many distinguished officers of the army who were 
Masons were present at this festival ; and the brethren in 
the Massachusetts line soon after petitioned the Massachu- 
setts Grand Lodge for a warrant to hold a travelling lodge in 
their camp. The petition was granted on the 6th of October, 
1779 ; a special dispensation was issued to pass and raise 
lodges in this State, or any other of the United States of 
America, where no other Grand Master presided. General 
John Paterson was made Master of this lodge and Colonel 
Benjamin Tupper and Major William Hull, Wardens. The 
lodge was called "Washington Lodge." 

Washington, while commander-in-chief, often visited this 
lodge. This was a travelling lodge, and organized for the 
benefit of officers and soldiers of the army. Their celebra- 
tions of the festival of St. John the Baptist were famous.* 

" On Friday Sept. 24th. The officers of General Paterson's Brigade 
met and chose the General and Colonel Tupper to represent them in 
the General Court of our State. 

* "Washington and his Masonic Compeers," by Sidney Hay den, p. 
52. Anderson & Co., N. Y. 



202 TJFE OF MAJOR-GEXERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

" Tuesday Sept. 28th. General Paterson and Colonel Tupper put off 
from Boston. Sent a letter by Colonel Tupper to be submitted to the 
case of Daniel Simpson of the General Court, 

" Monday, Nov. 15th. The 7th Massachusetts Regiment late Alden's 
came on to the Point to join General Paterson's brigade. Our regi- 
ment received orders to join Nixon's brigade. * 

On the 7th of October, 1779, finding it impossible to pro- 
cure proper clotli for a uniform, General Paterson was obliged 
to ask that the Board of War might be allowed to sell him 
sufficient cloth to have one made, wdiicli was granted the next 
day: 

" To the Rouble, the Council and House of Representatives of the 
State of Massachusetts Bay in General Court assembled : 

" The petition of John Paterson humbly sheweth that no clothing at 
present is to be had in Camp ; that since he has been in Town he has 
made search and cannot find any that is suitable ; he therefore hum- 
bly requests this Honorable Court that they would permit the Board 
of War to supply him with a Suit, he paying them their demand, and 
which will be gratefully acknowledged by your Honors' most obedient 
and very humble servant, " JNq Paterson." 

" Boston. October 7, 1779." f 

In the House of Kepresentatives, Boston, October 7, 1779 : 

" Resolved, That the Board of War be directed to deliver to Briga- 
dier General John Paterson cloth for a suit of clothes, he paying for 

the same." :}; 

On November 27tli Wasliington, in a letter to General 
Heath, ordered General Paterson"s brigade to be again stationed 
at West Point. On November 29th the commanding officers 
of the corps met at five o'clock at General Paterson's quarters 
to draw lots for huts. General McDougall's last order was : 

" Garrison West Point, December 6, 1779. 

" General Heath having arrived yesterday at Mr. Mandaville's and 
the Commander-in-Chief having given permission to the commandant 

* General Sewal's Diary. 

t Massachusetts Archives, vol. ccxxiv. . p. 390. 

t Massachusetts Archives, vol. ccxxiv., p. 392. 



INCLEMENCY OF THE SEASON. 203 

[McDougall] to retire when the event took place, the command, by de- 1779 
sire of General Heath, devolves on General Paterson, which he will be 
pleased to assume after guard mounting." 

General Paterson was therefore in command during the 
winter of 1779-80. 

How dangerous the condition of West Point was when he 
took command may be judged of by the following letter : 

" West Point 16th Dec. 1779. 
" Sir. 

" I have this moment received the enclosed from Colo Hay which I 
thought my Duty to send you. The State of the Garrison in my opinion 
is very precarious, if this Weather holds it is probable that communi- 
cation from one side to the other may be cut off at least for some con- 
siderable Time — you may depend Sr that every assistance shall be 
given from this side to prosecute any plan you shall strike out for the 
Relief of the Troops. I am Sir 

" with esteem your very 

'* humble Servant 

"J. Paterson. 
"Honbie Majr Geni Heath." * 

On the 23d he wrote to Major-General Heath as follows : 

" West Point, Deer — 23d 79 
"Sir. 

" By the late Regulations the Brigade Majors have been relieved 
from immediately attending on their Brigadier, which obliges me to 
ask the favor of having Lt. Shaw of the 11th Regt. appointed in orders 
as Aid de Camp to me — the multiplicity of little affairs to attend to at 
this post oblige me to request it — 

" I sent Mr Elderkin out in quest of Flour he has returned, but 
without the olive leaf, he cannot find that there is three hundred Bar- 
rels in the State we expected forty Barrels last evening, but they have 
not as yet arrived, I yesterday had a Bridge built across the Creek 
which surrounds Constitution Island that our Supplies which must 
come by land may be brought directly to me. 

" We have everything to struggle with, the severe Season put a stop 
to building Chimnies for the present, our Nails fall short which pre- 
vents our Carpenters from covering the Barracks so early as was ex- 
pected, the Men being in Tents on the plain causes a great consumption 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



204 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHX PATERSON. 

1780 of wood of which article we are entirely destitute. I have ordered a 
number of hand Sleighs to be built and distributed to the several Regi- 
ments so that each Regiment with them can provide their own fuel for 
themselves, officers included, but am still obliged to keep a large 
Fatigue to supply the Staff and those employed on the several differ- 
ent Works. We can have but little dependence on our Teams as our 
Forage grows very short indeed I think if they were all sent away ex- 
cept five or six it would be best in that case those left might be kept 
better and do more work than all do at present. 
' ' I am your most 

' ' obedient humble Servant 

" Jno Paterson. 
" Honbie Majr Geni Heath." * 

The following order complies with General Paterson's re- 
quest for Lieutenant Shaw's appointment : 

" Head Quarters Robinson's Farm 23rd Dec. 1779 

"Lieut. Shaw of the lltb Massachusetts Regiment is appointed Aid 
De Camp to Brigadier General Paterson, and is to be obeyed accord- 
ingly-" 

How well General Paterson remembered his soldiers is 
shown by the following letter : 

" I certify that Edward Bates was sent by the orders of General Mc- 
Dougal out of my Brigade up the North River after Timber, for the 
Garrison of West Point, and on the return of the Officer, commanding 
the party, was reported as being unfit for Duty, on account of a wound 
received in cou»-se of the Tour, and in consequence of it was transferred 
to the Corps of invalids. . . . This was in the year 1779 

" John Paterson B. Gen. 

"Boston Feb 9th 1786." f 

The year 1780 did not bring any relief to the country or 
to the army, which Congress continually neglected. The 
Americans, deprived of almost every comfort, sat watching 
the English in New York, who were quite content and very 
comfortable. The country was bankrupt. All sorts of paper 
money, real and counterfeit, the one worth about as much as 
the other, were in circulation. The false and the real were 

♦ Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 
■)• Owned by W. E. Benjamin, New York. 



DESERTIONS AT WEST POINT. 205 

difficult to distinguish from each other, and circulated about i~8(> 
on a par. The army was no longer paid. Officers and men 
were justly dissatisfied. Desertions were frequent, mutiny 
was threatened. The army was obliged to sustain itself by 
foraging, which often degenerated into mere marauding. The 
money they had to pay for what they wished to take was 
worthless, and they therefore seized what the owner refused 
to take currency for. They often took possession without 
proffering pay, on the ground that it was useless to offer the 
paper, which was valueless. In the month of January there 
was neither bread nor meat at West Point for a fortnight. 
The English were frozen in at New York, and could not be 
supplied by the fleet. They had plenty of gold and silver 
coin, and they paid it out willingly for produce, so that the 
farmer frequently forgot his patriotism and furnished them 
with all the supplies they needed. 

On January 7th General Paterson wrote to General Heath 
apprizing him of the desertion of an entire regiment : 

" West Point Jany 1. 1780. 
"Sir, 

" I am unhappy to inform you that toward a hundred men from 
the 4th Massachusetts Brigade have this morning very early mutinied 
and set off for home with their Arms, I on the first Intelhgence 
ordered a party of about one hundred properly officered to pursue 
them and bring them back dead or alive, I have likewise sent an offi- 
cer by Express to get ahead and raise a sufficient no of Militia to take 
them. I shall immediately send another on the east side of the River to 
take any who shall be able to cross it, I beg your direction in the 
Affair I am extremely sorry that the affair has happened but am 
happy that it was not in my Brigade. You must excuse every Inac- 
curacy being in the utmost hurry. I am Sr 

" with esteem and respect your most 

" obedn & very humble Servant 

" Jno Paterson." 
•' Honble Majr Geni Heath." * 

To which General Heath immediately replied : 
* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



206 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 " Head Quarters Robinson House 

" Jan 1. 1780. 
"Dear Sir. 

"I am just honored with yours of this date, am exceedingly sorry 
to hear of the folly of those soldiers who have in a mutinous way 
departed from the garrison, I approve the steps you have taken, — I 
have wrote to the commanding officer at Fishkill by express to have 
his Regt in readiness and not to take them past that place — about 
fourteen have gone off from the first Brigade a party is gone after 
them — I have not heard from the second Brigade but have wrote the 
Commanding Officer to have the Brigade in readiness should occasion 
require it. Strict discipline and the most spirited conduct must be 
observed — I had addressed this army in the order of the Day and di- 
rected that one gill of rvim per man should be served to all the Troops, 
please to order it done in the Garrison. Since I received your favor I 
have added another paragraph to the orders have cautioned the sol- 
diers not to entertain an Idea for a moment of following the mutinous 
example and have told them what the consequences of such conduct 
will be — 

' ' These circumstances my Dear Sir usher in the new year with dis- 
agreeable sensations to you and to me, we will how ever hope and ex- 
pect, more agreeable scenes soon to take place, to you I sincerely wish 
them. 

' ' I am with great regard 

" Dear Sir Your obedient Servant 

" W. Heath. 

"Geni Paterson."* 



The following letter tells of the distress they were in at 
the Point : 

" West Point Jany 8th i780. 
"Dear General 

" I take the liberty to inclose a representation made by the field 
officers of the Division to me this morning and sensible you will do 
everything in your power to relieve them, their distress is really very 
great a number are frozen, lying in the Field & getting their wood, if 
this severe Season continues I am afraid we shall perish. 

" It will be impossible to finish our Barracks unless it moderates, 
neither Masons or Carpenters can do any business. I have this day 
ordered one hundred and fifty to break a path to Geni Glovers Bi'igade 
and another to mark a road on the Ice to New Windsor where we 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



REQUEST FOR CLEMENCY. 207 

have Nine hundred bushels of peas for this post which must be trans- 1780 

ported by hand 

" I am with respect your most obt- 

" humble Servant 

" Jno Paterson. 
"Hon. Maj. Geni Heath." * 

[Note.— No petition accompanying.] 

The following letter relates to some of the deserting regi- 
ments : 

" West Point 15th Jany 1780 
" Sir. 

"The Ofl&cers of Colo Barley's Regt have requested a pardon for 
Sergt. Shallock & Waterman whose tryal I send you I did not think it 
my Duty to do it without your consent 

"It seems the officers had it in orders from Colo- Jackson to offer 
pardon to all that would return, my Intention was to have had them 
brought back without any concession on our part & then if proper 
have pardoned those who but deserve it. 

" I have deferred the Execution of the Sentence until your pleasure 

shall be known 

" I am your honors most 

" obt Servant 

"John Paterson 
"Hon. Maj Gen. Heath." f 

On January 16tli it was ordered that " in future the Captain 
of the Day will deliver his report of Guards &c., to General 
Paterson." 

On January 26, 1780, a fire broke out in the quartermaster's 
barrack at West Point which threatened to do great damage. 
General Paterson, who was in command of the garrison at 
that time, not only distinguished himself, but also exposed his 
person to great danger from the flames to save an exposed 
building, as he had previously done at Cambridge at the com- 
mencement of the war. In relation to this fire General Heath 

writes the next day : 

" Head Quarter's Highlands 

"Jan 27 1780 
" Dear Sir. 

" The repeated instances of Fire of late is a matter of Serious con- 
sideration and great care and pains must be taken to investigate if 

* Massachusetts Hi^rical Society, Boston, 
f Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



208 LIFE OF MAJOR GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 Possible the real cause of it if by accident we must increase precaution 
— if by design the perpetrators are probably in the Barracks of the 
Garrison and uncommon vigilance becomes necessary, the Guards 
should be increased and Patroles very frequent. It is surprising to me 
that the Fire the last night was not discovered by the Sentinels, two or 
three bf whom were planted very near the place, those I trust you have 
had properly secured for examination. 

" We must guard against every least relaxation in duty, if it appears 
in any instances to be stealing upon us it must be immediately indi- 
cated 

' ' I am with greatest regard 

" Dear Sir 
' ' Your obt- serv. 

" W. Heath. 
" Gen. Paterson.'' * 

To this letter General Paterson at once replied : 

" West Point Jany 27 1780 

" Dear General. 

" I have this moment received your favor of equal date. I 
can with truth assure you that nothing has or shall be wanting in me 
to guard against accidents of every kind more particularly Fire, as that 
is attended with the most dangerous consequences in this Gan-ison. 

" A Court of inquiry is now sitting to investigate the unhappy catas- 
trophe which happened last evening. The Centinals who were placed 
near the barracks when it took fire were immediately confined in 
order for tryal, others were placed in their stead & a number of addi- 
tional ones planted on the Ramparts and other places the most con- 
venient, to oljserve and give information of any attempts which might 
be made against the Works. 

" The guards are increased, and Patroles ordered. 
" I am with the greatest esteem Dear General your Hble servt. 

"John Paterson." f 

On February 1st General Paterson writes to General Heath 
concerning the positions he is obliged to give his officers : 

"IstFeby 1780. 
"Sir 

" I received your orders of yesterday think them very proper, but it 
is not in my power to comply with them, not having a field officer here 
but what is on Duty that is returned fit for Duty. Colos Jackson and 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 
f Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



ORDERS AT WEST POINT. 209 

Marshall command Brigades, Col. Wesson is unfit for Duty, Bedford 1780 
& Knap on Court Martial, Col. Simpson on the Lines. 

" For this reason I have continued a Captain Officer of the Day until 
we can be able to put on a field officer. 

" The main Guard is increased and to be commanded by a captain as 
soon as we are able to comply fully with the order and a subaltran 
Guard ordered to fort Putnam. 

" The situation of the Post is in such State that it requires every atten- 
tion, you may depend that nothing will be wanting on my part as far 
as my ability will permit, but shall always be happy to follow your par- 
ticular direction which I am sure you will give whenever it is neces- 
sary or disprove my conduct. You may be assured I look on you to be 
my friend and by your reproofs I shall think your friendship to increase 
rather than diminish. I am dear Sr 

' ' Your very humble servant 

" John Paterson. 

" Hon, Maj. Gen. Heath." * 

On the same day he wrote for a furlough for one of his 
sergeants : 

" West Point Feby 5 1780. 
" Dear Sir 

" I have been unwell for several days and am advised to more exer- 
cise and as I have some private business at New Windsor and Fishkill 
would thank you for leave to ride there to-morrow and return the 
next morning. 

"Sergt Stoper Artifficer is very urgent for a short furlough. I 
know the Family he belongs to and believe he may be trusted, but not 
knowing of your pleasure respecting that Corps did not think myself 
justifiable in doing of it without your permission. 
" I am Dear General 

' ' Your very humble Servant 

" John Paterson. 
"Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath." f 

On February 5th General Paterson received the following 
order : 

" Head Quarters Highlands Feb. 5 1780 
" Sir James Jay has permission to try some experiments in Gun- 
nery at West Point. Brig. General Paterson will please to Desire 
Maj. Bowman to attend Sir James with such pieces of Ordnance and 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 
t Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



210 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 to Discharge them in such a manner as Sir James may request — 
provided not more than fifteen discharges are made, and those to be 
between sun-rising and setting — to begin on Monday morning next." 

On February 5th General Heath replied to General Pater- 
son's letter of the first : 

" Head Quarters Highlands Feby 5th. 1780 
•' Dear Sir 

"I am just favored with yours of this date, am exceedingly 
sorry to hear j'ou are indisposed. I have been seeking for an op- 
portunity to write to you every day since I received your other 
favor of the first Inst, but have not been able to find a moment one 
misfortune upon the Back of another calls for every moment of my 
time Day and night. First the Fort on Fire and since that Lt. Col. 
Thompson's mishap, the loss of all the papers and orders with him 
have required new ones to be sent to Col. Badlam ; I feel exceedingly 
anxious for the safety of every part of my command and am much 
obliged by your attention and assistance as our Honor and Interest 
in the defense of the Posts are mutual you may depend that at all 
times my motives are to seek the furtherance of both. I fear we are 
falling into a relaxed state, the Season and distance from the Enemy 
naturally tend to lull us into security — The Enemy will be practising 
every art and Strategem against us. I wish they may not have some 
tools among us. This consideration leads us to uncommon precaution 
at every post. I would recommend that the gates of all enclosed 
works be constantly shut every night at eight or nine o'clock and 
during the present state of the ice I think it would be well constantly 
to keep a Patrole down the river in the night time to some distance 
below Swins this may be done at " Trenny "? which if too weak may 
be reinforced. 

" It is with reluctance that I think of your being absent for a night, 
but if Health requires it you have my consent. The D. A. G. must be 
due to be at the Garrison during your absence I trust you all times — 
keep a disposition of the Troops to the several works in case an alarm 
should happen. I will order you a copy of the distribution of those on 
this side in such case. 

" I am with great regard Dear Sir 
' ' Your obed*. Serv'. 

" W. Heath. 

" P. S. Please to give Col. Jackson particular Instruction before 
your Departure from the Point." * 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



DEFENCES AT WEST POINT. 211 

On the same day General Paterson wrote to General Heath I'^SO 
in expectation of an attack on West Point : 

" West Point Feby 5th nso. 
" Sir. 

*' Hearing you had some suspicion of the enemy attacking this post 
I have as a preparing manner ordered each Fort on this side the river to 
be particularly inspected this day and put into immediate state of 
Defense, and the men to be ready to Man the several works that they 
are destined to on the shortest notice, have sent to the advance guard 
at Swims to post their Centers so as to have a full view of the Ice and 
on the approach of an enemy to fire and send Express to me. I have 
likewise sent a Serjt and party to the Beacon to see that in order. 

' ' If you are by any means sure of an attack here I would suggest 
whether it would not be proper to cut the Ice across the river some- 
where below so wide as to prevent sleighs or even men crossing it, this 
I think may be done by the fatigue of two hundred men in one day and 
oblige the enemy to retire or take the Mountains which would be im- 
practicable at this Season on account of the deepness of the Snow. 
' ' You will excuse me for this & believe to be 

" Your real friend & very humble Servt. 

" Jno. Paterson. 

" Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath. 

'* N. B. I have ordered but one Company exclusive of the Artillery 
on Constitution Island supposing that Glovers Brigade would Man that 
Sufficiently and with the rest assist on this side if you think it necessary 
for more shall be as your direction. Marshalls & Brooks man fort 
Arnold, Jackson & Tuppers fort Putnam, Bailey & Wesson Wyllys 
Lynes and Fort Webb, Col Bradford with his Regiment to take charge 
of little Redoubts on the advanced heights. 

"J. P."* 

To which General Heath replied : 

" Head Quarter's. Highlands Feb. Sth 1780. 
"Dear Sir. 

"Another of your favors of this date is just handed to me, I 
thank you for your attention and vigilance. The troops should be all 
times in the most perfect readiness for instant defense. But I beg to 
be informed from whom you learned that I was suspicious of the 
Enemy attempting this place, and whether you have received any 
particular Intelligence from any Quarter. I appi'ove of every precau- 
tion you are pleased to mention except cutting the ice which I think 
can answer but little purpose unless the Enemy should pass very soon 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



212 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 after cutting, as the water would almost instantly freeze again, let us 
keep up every necessary precaution and I hope we shall be safer — How- 
ever if you have an Intelligence favor me with it as soon as Possible. 
In case of real alarm Sheppards Regt- goes to the two redoubts on the 
Heights, Vose's to Constitution Island 13th & 15th to reinforce the 

Garrison. 

' ' I am with great regard 

' ' Dear Sir. 

" Your obt Sert 

" W. Heath. 
"Gen. Paterson. 

" P. S. I believe I mar be in the most danger should my quarters 
be attacked Send the light infantry down on the River Immedi- 
ately — " * 

To which General Paterson replied : 

" West Point. Feb. 6 1780. 
" Dear General 

' ' I received your favor last Evening. Capt. Sewall was the Person that 
gave me Information that you had sent to have the Houses searched 
down the River least the enemy should secret themselves in them and 
by that means be able to surprise us, from which I concluded it neces- 
sary to put the garrison in the most perfect State of Defense, the Offi- 
cers here thinking I had received some Interesting news by my Orders, 
exerted themselves and I had as much work done yesterday as would 
have taken me six Days at another time. 

"I thought it my duty (not knowing but you might have received 
Intelligence of their intending an attack here) to let you know our 
Situation and the measures I was pursuing. You may depend I shall 
always give the earliest Intelligence of everything that comes to my 

Knowledge. 

" I am dear Sir your most obt 
" & very humble servt JoHN PATERSON 
" Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath." + 

On the 6th General Heath wrote in reply : 

" Head Quarters Highlands. Feby 6tb 1780 
" Dear Sir 

" I have received your favor of this date, am exceedingly pleased with 
your Conduct on yesterday and the good account you turned my sup- 
posed intelligence to. 

♦Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 

•f- Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



GENERAL PATEKSON RECEIPTS FOR MONEY. 213 

" I am just informed by a deserter who left New York on Fry day 1780 
evening that the Enemy had received orders to draw four Day's Pro- 
vision and have it cooked, that a train of Battering Cannon was ready, 
the talk was that they were going towards Morristown they may have 
intentions this way Let everything be in the most perfect readiness for 
defense, let a Sufficient Quantity of Provisions be stored in Fort Put- 
nam and etc. if it is not already done and let the water casks be ready 

to fill. 

" I am dear Sir 

" with great regard 
"your obed. Servt. 

"W. Heath. 
" Brig. Gen. Paterson." * 

About this time public confidence seemed to revive a little. 
Enlistments were numerous. The State sent considerable 
sums to encourage them, as shown by the receipt below : 

" Head Quarters Highlands, Feby 20, 1780. 
" Received of Major General Heath twenty six thousand one hun- 
dred & ninety pounds lavvfull money of the State of Massachusetts Bay 
to be paid to the Commanding officers of Regiments of the Massachu- 
setts State for the purpose of reinlisting the Troops belonging to said 
State agreeable to a late Resolve thereof for which I sign two Receipts 
of the like tenor and date. 

" John Paterson. 
" attest E. Haskell." f 

On the 25th of February General Paterson wrote : 

" West Point 23rd Feb 1780. 
" Dear General. 

" Knowing that by your Estimation of the last Money you received 
fell short to a considerable amount, I thought it best to have it accu- 
rately looked over, by doing it I find a number of gross mistakes, some 
bundles over running hundi-eds of Dollars, others falling short as 
many, but in the whole it amounts to twenty six thousand some 
hundred, if I remember right three hundred pounds more than I 
receipted for to you, which perhaps will make up the sum missing 
in your account. 

' ' We have had a considerable Rain last evening which has ruined our 
Bridge, but fortunately I yesterday sent Men to Fishkill who drew 
down by hand four tons of Flouer, which I believe we may be assured 
is all we can be supplied with for over three weeks at least. 

♦Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 
t Massachusetts Archives, vol. ccxxvii., p. 351. 



214 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 "We hear nothing of the Flouer from the southward, indeed the 
Roads are now impassible with loaded Teams, how we shall be supplied 
God knows, but hope for the best. 

" I hope you have had better travelling than you expected and a 
happy sight of your Friends 

" I am dear General with esteem 
" Your very humble servant 

" John Paterson 
" Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath."* 

On the 3d of March General Paterson received the follow- 
ing orders : 

" Head Quarters Highlands, 3rd March 1780 

' ' A Report is to be made of all the Carpenters in the several Brigades. — 
The Publick Boats are to be surveyed and those wanting Repairs to be 
Directly put in order. Brig. Genl Paterson is required to attend to this 
matter and have it done as soon as possible. Oars and other Requisites 
are intended in this Order." 

On March 5th General Paterson received $4876 from the 

State to recruit the 12th Massachusetts regiment. On March 

31st General Paterson wrote to General Heath : 

" West Point March 31st 1730 
" Sir 

" I received your favor of the 9th March have sent to the command 
officers of the 4th & 15th Battalions and shall as soon as they come to 
hand send the certificates to the Board of war. 

' ' Our supplies are yet very scanty the Forage has been gone these 
fourteen days and but a little Flour the River has been open three weeks, 
the chain will be down to-morrow. We have been making every exer- 
tion in our power to put the works in a State of defense against an 
attack which the enemy are loudly threatening, but we are now like a 
man who has arrived to the age of three score years and ten his eyes 
dim, his hearing gone, his Limbs paralytic, depending on a broken 
cane which wounds his hand instead of supporting the feeble body — 
This in fact is the case with the shattered remains of the once respect- 
able line from the State of the Massachusetts Bay, we once had a re- 
spectable soldiering, the men in high spirits, they then had confidence 
in the Justice and generosity of their Country, in which Confidence they 
fought, they conquered, they endured hardships, cold hunger and every 
other inconvenience with pleasure — But alas the reverse in every par- 
ticular is the case with us at present. 

" Our officers resigning by dozens, our men far during the war at 
home waiting (but in vain) for Justice, what remains are mostly com- 
* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



SUFFERINGS AT WEST POINT. 215 

posed of nine months abortions, sent here with bounties which ten 1780 
times exceed those given for the war, naked, Ufeless, and dead, who 
never saw action, are now counting days, hours and minutes they have 
to tarrj' in service, 

" Recruiting is now entirely at an end — the parsimony (I will not say 
dishonesty) of the Court has entirely prevented it — our reports from 
creditable persons are that the Court ai-e so lost to every sentiment of 
humanity as to stop even the small pittance given by the Town and 
private Gentlemen to the poor soldiery, as a small (indeed very small) 
recompense in some measure to counterballance their excessive 
fatigues, fasting, and hardships. Every one must know that mak- 
ing up the depreciation is only making good the wages they had 
promised and pawned the honor and credit of the State they should 
receive as an encouragement to enter the service — Taking the bounties 
out of it (with a number of other encouragements given from time to 
time by Congress) is such a manifest and open faced injustice that it is 
beneath a man of sense to use arguments to confute it. 

" You maj^ perhaps think this picture is too high colored, but be 
assured my Dear Geni. that there is now an intention making head 
very fast in the line of all resigning and leaving the service, should 
this take place (as I assure you I have reason to believe will) the con- 
sequence I am certain will be fatal. You must conjecture what spirits 
I can have from this. We have it from the best intelligence the 
enemy mean suddenly to attack us at this post (tho' the intelligence 
and the way it comes to us at present must be secret) Yet I am sure of 
it. We cannot from the two Bi'igades here muster more than seven 
hundred men, the two on the other side I believe about equal, out of 
them one third at least will have served out their time within three 
weeks. From this representation which is in fact the truth you must 
judge of the defense that can be made. You may be assured that from 
my past sufferings from an ungrateful Country, I shall never give my 
consent to give up the post as long as my own or a mans life is left. It 
really gives me pain to think of our public affairs, where is the public 
spirit of the year 1775 ? where are those flaming patriots who were 
ready to sacrifice their lives, their fortunes, their all for the public : I 
can point some of them out in the Court, telling the people that the 
army are the only persons they have reason to fear, throwing their 
weight into the scale against those who have fought, bled, and even 
the widows of those who have been killed in the service of their Coun- 
try, but drawing the picture gives me pain in writing and I am sure it 
will you in reading. 

' ' The Enemy lately made an attack on an advanced Troop at Pyra- 
nius, but were drove back with the loss of killed, wounded and made 
prisoners after burning the Court house and some other buildings at 
Hackinsack. This is all the news we have except as I have said before, 



216 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 that preparations were making at New York which by every account 
is designed against this post. Enclosed you have a receipt for twenty- 
six thousand one hundred and ninety pounds lawful money, which was 
the sum I actually received. I have paid it all to the commanding 
officers of the Regiments but five thousand nine hundred and twenty- 
nine pounds, which still remains on hand. 1 believe no more will be 
wanted here, nor do I think that the officers will have occasion to dis- 
pose of the twentieth part of what they have got, except they pay it 

to the old soldiers 

" I am dear General 

" Your humble Servant 

" John Paterson 
" Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath." * 

Early in May, two Connecticut regiments paraded under 
arms, declaring their intention either to return home or to 
forage for themselves. They were only brought back to 
their duty by the influence of Washington, for whom they 
had the most unbounded admiration. The dissatisfaction had 
now reached some of the higher officers. General Greene 
began openly to assert the incompetency of Washington, and 
to try to undermine him, to the President of Pennsylvania. 
In May, the Continental troops between the Chesapeake and 
Canada amounted to only 7000 men. Those under Wash- 
ington were only 3760. These Congress could neither pay, 
clothe, or feed. The English industriously circulated the 
reports that one half of the American army were ready to de- 
sert, that all were dissatisfied, and many were now ready to 
return to the royal rule. Clinton had four times as many 
regular troops as were opposed to him. It looked very dark. 

Congress paid but little attention to the army. Ever so- 
licitous for the welfare of his command, on May 7th General 
Paterson wrote from West Point to General Heath a letter 
which contained some unpleasant truths, beggmg for provi- 
sions for the ill-fed soldiers, and for some action which would 
prevent their pitiable condition from becoming known to 
the enemy. This letter is given below. General Heath for- 
warded it, as a true statement of the case, to the House of 
Eepresentatives in Boston, where it caused great irritation, and 
* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



SUFFERINGS OF THE ARMY. 217 

in June they caused a resolution to be entered on the minutes 1780 
that it was offensive to them. 

"West Point, May 7, 1780. 
"To Major-General Heath, Boston : * 

" Sir : The distress, I was in hopes, arose to its height Years ago ; 
indeed, I then thought our liberties established, but find myself egi-e- 
giously mistaken. The country, fi"om principles of real Vice, have sacri- 
ficed to their darling Mammon the Medium which enabled them to 
keep an Army in the field and make a stand against Tyranny. This 
siu-ely will ruin the best Cause Man was ever engaged in, unless some 
immediate Remedy is found and as suddenly applied. We have been 
lamenting it as a great Misfortune that the Soldiers were out this Spring 
in such numbers ; but if the unthinking Country will not support what 
we have now, what would have been our case had we three times as 
many ? 

"We have not six days of Meat provision in Garrison, and by ac- 
counts from all the purchasers must not expect any until they can be 
supplied with cash and of a different and better established sort than the 
present. It must be two or three months, I think, before we can expect 
it. What shall we do in the interim? To desert this important post 
would ruin the Cause, to live here without provision we cannot, to take 
it by the Bayonet exceeding disagi'e cable, but preferable in my Opinion 
to an Evacuation ; indeed, we have but a choice of difficulties, to desert, 
to take by force, or pawn the public assets in our hands for a short credit. 
This last perhaps may meet with the approbation of Congress ; if not, 
ruin to him that pursues the plan will be the consequence. I hope the 
Enemy will not get Information of our circumstances. 

"Every Department is at a stand for want of Cash, our Stores are 
exhausted, the Army unpaid and disheartened. I once thought America 
had Virtue to encounter the greatest difficulties firm and unshaken, but 
her conduct shows how weak my Supposition was ; indeed, I am fully 
persuaded the Doctrine of total Depravity (which we have so long de- 
nied) is true, and that there is no virtue in man. 

"I am ashamed to be continually filling your Ears with Complaints of 
Details of our misfortunes ; be assured I would not do it did not I think it 
would be of service to the Cause. I am sure you will leave nothing im- 
done to spirit the State to the earliest exertion (they cannot be too much 
so), for the Crisis is difficult and dangerous, and should we survive I hope 
we shall be careful of a Relapse. 

" We hear from Congi-ess that the Regts. of our State are to be reduced 
to ten, that the eldest Officers are to have the choice of retiring or con- 
tinuing. If they retire they are to have half -pay, and at the close of the 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. ccii., p. 227. 



218 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PAfERSON. 

1780 War to be entitled to all tlie privileges of those that remain in command. 
I think Congi'ess generous to them, and vpish it may be the most proper 
persons. 

" The last accounts from Charleston are that it was completely invested 
and closely besieged. I wish our troops were out of it, but still hope 
they will be relieved or sell themselves dear. 

"I am, dear General, with perfect regard, your most obedient and very 
humble servant, 

"John Paterson." * 

The same day, he wrote another letter of the same tenor, 
he having just heard of the investment of Charleston : 

" West Point Sunday evening 7tb May 1780 
" Sir : 

"The iniquities of America are so many and of such a nature 
that in reason we cannot or at least ought not to expect success un- 
less like the waggoner we pray God to help our Carriage out of the 
mire without any exertions of our own. 

"Our army reduced to nothing, no recruits have arrived, neither do 
I hear of any coming. I cannot conceive what ideas possess the Minds 
of the people at home — do they think the war is at an end ? If they do, 
perhaps to inform them that Sixty four, fifty, and eight frigates are 
in the harbor at Charlestown, and that all our naval armament has 
fallen into their hands, may alter their opinion for the present, & this 
you may depend is the case, and that an account of the capture of the 
Joson is hourly expected, when an immediate attack on this post will 
inevitably be the consequence — They will have perfectly answered 
their purpose by drawing a large portion of our force at such a dis- 
tance that it will make it impossible for them to act again this season 
in conjunction with us — this Intelligence you may depend upon I have 
it from Congress and a person of distinction at Morristown, tho' at 
present only whispered in camp. 

" It is indeed very discouraging to the army our numbers are so re- 

* This letter was so bitterly true, and the description of the real con- 
dition of affairs so accurately written, that it was received with every 
sign of displeasure, but no other action than the passage of a resolution 
was taken on it. The treason of Arnold, and the subsequent courts- 
martial of some of the best of the old soldiers, who, finding no other way 
to get redress, took the law into their own hands, showed how true it 
was. In some cases the men who were sentenced to be shot were par- 
doned, it being felt by Washington that the sentence satisfied the law, 
and that to have executed it on men who had been good soldiers, and 
who used the wrong means to redress their real wrongs, would have been 
a mistake. 



SUFFERINGS OF THE ARMY. 219 

duced that we cannot call ourselves an army, this you must be sensi- 1780 
ble of from your knowledge of our situation before you left us. 
Indeed the officers begin to think the country do not intend to support 
either them or the cause, and will as they say get out of the scrape as 
soon as possible unless supported with men. 

" I have but a moment to write you, but could only in Justice to our 
bleeding cause beg you to exert yourself in the affair, you have in- 
fluence and I am certain you will use it for the common good. We 
are now reduced to half allowance — every man on duty — our numbers 
daily lessening, some Regiments at present consist of fifty men only, 
with that Body of men and the supplies of the garrison you can judge 
of the defense that can or ought to be expected from us. 

" I wish you to hear by the next Express from the southward that 
our Troops have escaped, but I assure you it is not expected. 

" If this loss will rouse the country to exert its natural strength I 
shall not regret it, but if not, I must conclude they have lost all their 
virtue (or never had any) and that the cause is tottering on the brink 
of ruin. 

" I have not time to copy this or even to look over it you must 
therefore excuse all inaccuracies and believe me to be yours with 
respect and esteem 

"John Paterson. 

" Hon. Maj. Geni- Heath." * 

The following garrison orders f were issued in June and 
July: 

"Garrison Orders. Highlands, 23rd June 1780 
"The detachment of Maj Phillips Militia, and the one from Col. 
Hathorn's Reg. are to be annexed to Brigadier General Paterson's 
Regiment." 

" Head Quarters Highlands 28th June 1780. 
" The Quartermasters of Genl- Paterson's and late Learned's Brigades 
will attend at the Commandants Quarters at eight O. Clock tomorrow 
morning." 

" Garrison Orders. West Point 2nd July 1780. 
" Forty three men to be detailed for occasional Fatigue from Poor's, 
Paterson's and Late Learned's Brigades — the residue of those Corps 
will be employed on the works designated to them." 

On July 27th General Paterson wrote from "West Point and 
begged from the President of the Council of Massachusetts Bay 
a loan of 1500 stands of arms, requesting him to send them 
immediately, as those expected from Em-ope had not arrived, 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 

f Orderly Books of the 9th Massachusetts regiment. 



220 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 and they had not siifficieut to arm the new levies, adding 
that on the "immediate supply the success tliis year most 
certainly will in a great degree depend, and probably the 
events of the war." He did not know then of the new calam- 
ity which was to befall the country in the treason of Benedict 
Ai-nold. 

The scarcity of arms and of provisions had led to the nat- 
ural result of insubordination arising from the dissatisfac- 
tion of the men which expressed itself in disobedience, mu- 
tinies, and marauding. The pay of the soldiers was made 
in worthless paper ; the people were tired of the war ; they 
expected deliverance from their enemies, the British, by their 
allies, the French. The soldiers must have arms. Every one 
who was not to be present in the rank and file in action was 
disarmed and their arms given to the soldiers in the ranks 
and still there were nearly four thousand men who had 
none. 

On the 28th Baron Steuben wrote to Washington that he 
had asked General Paterson to write this letter to Massachu- 
setts and had also requested General Huntington to write a 

similar one to Connecticut : 

" West Point, July 27, 1780. 

" Sir : The bad economy which has inseparably attended the operations 
of America (until very lately) has reduced our Arms to so small a number 
that we are not able to Arm our New Levies. From what cause this has 
arisen is not my business at present to attend to, though I think it 
obvious. 

" The operations of this year depend entirely upon the single circum- 
stance of our being able to procure a sufficiency. 

" By some fatal misconduct or neglect the Arms expected from Europe 
are not arrived, and indeed cannot be expected in season ; it is there- 
fore necessary to use every exertion in our power for an immediate 
supply. 

" I have advised Baron Steuben, Inspector-General, to apply to the 
New England States for the loan of a certain number that they may 
have on hand or could collect from the several Towns, though this may 
be attended with difficulty and in some instances to appearance injure 
individuals, yet when put in competition with an inert Campaign it cer- 
tainly bears no comparison. 

"The Baron has requested of me to write you on the subject. I have 
not the least doubt that you will do everything in your power to procure 



MOVEMENTS IN THE SUMMER OF 1780. 221 

ail immediate supply. The buuceas of this year most certaiuly will iu a 1780 
great degree depend on it, aud probably the events of the war. 

" I am your Honor's most obedient and very humble servant, 

"John Paterson. 

"To Hon. J. Powell, President of Council for Massachusetts Bay."* 

No movements of troops of any kind occurred until July 
and August of this year. The army was concentrated at 
Peekskill on the east side of the river to make a feint toward 
New York, but Washington afterward changed his mind and 
marched down the west side of the Hudson on a reconnois- 
sance on a large scale to Forts Lee and Bergen. This move- 
ment from the east to tlie west side took place at Dobbs' 
Ferry in August. In the same month General Paterson 
erected a block-house and battery at Dobbs' Ferry to defend 
the ferry. On August 16th, 21st, 25th, and 31st General 
Paterson was brigadier of the day. Divine service was cele- 
brated on Sunday, August 20th, in an open field, and a very 
effective sermon was preached by Chaplain Enos Hitchcock, 
of General Paterson 's brigade. It had been proposed during 
the summer to attack New York, and some of the generals 
strongly favored it, but most of them disapproved, and it was 
not done. 

The following receipt for levies was given in August : 

" Camp Aug 29 1780 
" Reed, of Ensign Blasdel seventeen Levies from the Massachusetts 
State which are to serve in the Continental Service six months 

" John Paterson B G." f 

On the 6th and 12th of September General Paterson was 
brigadier of the day. In the formation of the army. General 
Paterson's brigade was put in Baron Steuben's division, sec- 
ond in the line, on the left wing. On this march he was fre- 
quently brigadier of the day. The army was at Orangetown 
and Tappan August 10th, Teaneck August 31st, Steenrapie 
September 12th. The sick of the light infantry and of 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. ccii., p. 397. 
t Massachusetts Senate Documents, No. 1899. 



222 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 the right wing who were unable to march were collected in 
the rear of General Paterson's brigade. On September 12th 
he was on a general court-martial at Steenrapie, New Jersey. 
On that day it was ordered that fifty men, properly officered, 
from every brigade in the army should attend in the rear of 
General Paterson's brigade. On September 19th orders to 
march with the sick were received. On September 15, 1780, he 
wrote to Baron Steuben as follows : 

" Sir : * 

" I esteem it my duty to represent to you the disagreeable and dis- 
tressing circumstances of the brigade under my command for the want 
of provisions. Had this been new or accidental I should not have taken 
notice of it, but for a number of weeks we have not had an allowance of 
meat more than half the time ; particularly in this month we have had 
but seven and a half rations. Should this continue, I am fearful of the 
consequences. The officers, fretted already by the treatment they have 
met with from the country, are, I believe, in general determined to quit 
the service at the close of this campaign, and unless times have a better 
aspect, I fear the others will follow their exami^le. 

" Those in my brigade are really in distress, and depend solely on the 
rations they receive for support, not one in twenty being able to pur- 
chase a dinner. It has also a very bad effect upon the soldiery ; they, 
from being moral and peaceable, I find are giving way to those vices 
which are the peculiar attendants of an army without provisions. 

" You may depend, sir, this representation does not proceed from a 
feverish, complaining disposition, but the conti"ary. My wish is to see 
the army wel' supplied, which I think will effectually prevent all those 
evils we fear ; resignations, mutiny, and marauding would in great de- 
gree, if not totally, be prevented, and a spirit of obedience take place in 

their stead. 

"John Paterson." 

During the absence of Washington at Wethersfield, Con- 
necticut, to meet Count Rochambeau, the general of the French 
troops, and General Duportail, the admiral of the French 
fleet, Ai'nold's treason occurred. The news of it reached 
the army while it was making evolutions forty or fifty 
miles below, at Orangetown, on September 20tli and 27th. 
Paterson's brigade left West Point to join the army at Peeks- 
kill on the 28th of July. Arnold went there on the 3d and 
* Kapp's *' Life of Steuben," p. 385. 



Arnold's treason. 223 

4tli of August. Soured by the treatment he had received, he 1^80 
had for some time been in treaty with General Clinton of 
the British army, and when his plans had been perfected he 
asked of Washington as a special favor that he might be ap- 
pointed to the command of West Point, which was willingly 
accorded. He did this that he might betray the cause of the 
Americans. 

After the sitting of the court which tried Major Andre, 
General Paterson wrote in October a letter to General Heath 
complaining that the country was not supporting the army 
properly, and suggesting the best methods of enlisting re- 
cruits. As for himself, he declared that he was ruined finan- 
cially, and must resign on that account. He, however, 
remained to render very efficient service until the end of the 
war. 

He was brigadier of the day on October 2d, 3d, 10th, 16th, 
21st, 31st, and on November 5th, 9th, 13th, 17th, 20th, 24th. 

The English themselves, at the time of Arnold's treason, 
were dissatisfied — thoroughly tired of the war. Every one 
wished a " speedy accommodation of our present unnatural 
disputes." They were ready and anxious for peace at any 
price which would not involve complete independence to the 
Americans, and they were thoroughly convinced that the 
majority of the colonies would be glad to reunite with Eng- 
land on almost any terms. The country was bankrupt. The 
Continental paper money, which had been sustained by law 
and force, and which was only a promise to pay, with nothing 
back of it, was rapidly becoming worthless, which was its 
real value. The recruits to the army were lads whose patriot- 
ism was mostly the hope of getting $1500 for a nine-months' 
service. Notwithstanding all this, the plans of Arnold were 
frustrated, just as those of the more astute traitor, Lee, had 
been twice before. 

The condition of the American army in 1780 was very de- 
plorable. Hundreds of the staff officers had been financially 
ruined by the expenses they had been obliged to incur, and 



224 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 it seemed as if every obstacle was put in the way of the settle- 
ment of their accounts with the country. The bulk of the 
people were weary of the war. Dissatisfaction was general, 
Tlie army was ill paid, and ill fed, and made reprisals upon 
the country in whatever way they were able to. In some of 
the States wliere there was no militai'y, martial law was 
obliged to be used to collect supplies. Mutiny in the regi- 
ments was common. The salaries and pay for March were not 
paid until the end of August. Many of the most intelligent 
chiefs of the army were obliged to confess that unless the war 
was carried on by foreign troops and foreign money the coun- 
try would have to give up. Rochambeau wrote to Vergennes, 
" Send us troops, ships, and money, but do not depend upon 
these people or their means." There was even reason to fear 
that France might withdraw its aid. Congress did not com- 
mand confidence, as it was rent by faction and intrigue. The 
party hostile to Washington was gaining power. It was evi- 
dent that should he be removed, the army would at once be- 
come disbanded, and so they were very cautious in their 
movements, but every effort was made to hamper his move- 
ments, or at least to embarrass his designs. 

The British knew much of this, but not the whole of it. 
They had schemed for the reduction of West Point almost 
from the commencement of the war, and to have captured it 
would have been a triumph to Sir Henry Clinton, as it was the 
most important fortress of the patriots, and, if they had cap- 
tured it, it could not have been retaken by the Americans. 
The works were supposed to be impregnable to the English 
and had cost three years of labor and three millions of money, 
which could not have been again raised. Its possession by 
the British would have enabled them to check all intercourse 
between New England and the Southern States. The East- 
ern States were commercial, the Southern were thoroughly 
agricultural, and the one dependent absolutely upon the 
other, so that the loss of the Hudson might even have brought 
famine. It was supposed that the allies of the Americans 



SIR HENRY CLINTON"s HOPES. 225 

proposed to attack New York, but if West Point was held by 1780 
the British such an attack woukl have been impossible. 

Sir Henry Clinton supposed that with the surrender of Ar- 
nold he would probably capture the whole French army, but 
this was only a small part of what he wished to obtain. West 
Point was the chief fortress of tiie Americans, a stronghold 
which it would have been of the greatest credit to any general 
to reduce ; but to obtain possession of it, which involved not 
only the surrender of the garrison, but the acquisition of all 
its stores, magazines, supplies, and vessels, without shedding a 
single drop of blood, was a feat that any general might be 
proud of. It would be a blow which would probably end 
the war, for the Americans, they well knew, could not have re- 
placed what was lost. Sir Henry Clinton therefore hailed 
Arnold's defection not only as a triumph of loyalty over 
rebellion, but as a proof of his own good judgment, in facili- 
tating what the world has stamped as a most infamous action. 

After the treason the Pennsylvania division was immedi- 
ately hurried off to West Point, with a few other troops. It 
was undoubtedly the absence of the army from West Point 
which had a great deal to do with the selection of the time 
for the treason of Arnold. In the meantime, Major Andr^ had 
been arrested in our lines. His trial took place on September 
29, 1780. The court was composed of all the generals com- 
manding in the vicinity. It was made up of six major-gen- 
erals and eight brigadier-generals, and a colonel as judge 
advocate-general. General Paterson was the youngest briga- 
dier of the American army, and the youngest member of the 
court except Lafayette. He was at that time one of only 
eight generals of his rank from New Hampshire to Pennsyl- 
vania. No greater compliment could have been paid to these 
officers by their Commander-in-Chief, since he knew that this 
trial was to be scrutinized and critically judged by all the 
governments of the world. 

On October 27th General Paterson wrote to General 
Heath : 



226 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 " Camp Totoway, 23rd Oct 1780. 

"Dear General 

"I have seen a letter from you to General Glover inclosing a very 
bulky one from Mr. Gushing requesting your opinion of the best way 
of raising the Troops for three years or during the War. 

"It most certainly is absolutely necessary, but the foolish, childish 
conduct we have for years pursued, could not have been better calcu- 
lated to prevent it. Bounties before unheard of have been given to 
but little better purpose than to hire the populace to visit the army ; 
this instead of checking the growing avarice of the country (which 
ought to have been their object) has cherished it, till they pay their 
devotion to no other shrine than Mammons, this Disposition they 
now find necessary to surmount, but the way to accomplish it they 
are undetermined in, the prodigy of their own begetting has become 
not only troublesome but frightful. It is impossible for me to know 
what will be but unacquainted with the finances of the State and the 
Disposition of the people, it must be only opinion founded in igno- 
rance, but suppose it political to engage the Men of sense, of learning 
and ability of every town in the place, they must raise the spirit of the 
people and if possible revive the enthusiasm of 75 — these men must at- 
tend particularly to the concerns of the public, they must co-operate 
with the Court, experience has taught us that the populace have but 
few opinions of their own, but in every town these persons if they can 
be engaged to promote, will accomplish any measure they please, tliey 
even ought to be bribed to do good, when you have once gained them 
almost any method will be acceptable. If immediate exertions and 
those that will suddenly answer the purpose were not necessary, I 
should tell them the most certain method to raise the men would be 
to feed, clothe and pay those they now have in the field, that as long 
as they cheat them no person will enlist and that the pay of a soldier 
must be as good or better than what he can obtain at home, but this 
will be a work of time, the fame of it must be known in the country, 
the simple resolves of the Court will do nothing they have depreciated 
in a two fold proportion to the circulating medium. 

" Classing the men I think is the surest way and will be the best, if 
the licentiousness of the people can be made to submit to it, and the 
wise authoi-ity will act with a proper spirit and politically it will an- 
swer our wishes ; but if this should be thought inexpedient they must 
offer such bounties as will engage them whether to be paid in money 
specie or sand, the several Towns must be the best Judges, even this 
will be cheaper than the present mode for I am certain that we shall 
have no peace till we put ourselves into a position to fight our Enemy, 
that will continue till the end of the war. One great inducement par- 
ticularly to the Sixth months men would be a good uniform ; perhaps 
equal town's Bounty we could give them ; they are young, gaj* and 



LIEUTENANT-COLONEL VARICK. 227 

poorly clothed at present and will be almost naked before their times 1780 

expire, indeed no pains can be too great, no jewel too precious to part 

with that will answer our purpose but what bounty would answer 

that end is to me unknown. 

"As an individual and citizen I wish let the cost be what it will that 

the men should be raised for the war, I wish to see the Army on a 

reputable footing, tho' I shall not have the honor of belonging to it 

another year. My circumstances are such that I must retire from 

service but shall carry my best regards for the army with me, the 

gentlemen that compose it will have my warmest wishes for their 

prosperity and happiness. 

" I am dear General 

" With esteem & regard 

" Your most obd't & humble Servt. 
t 

"John Paterson 
" My best compliments to your family and the families of the 
House 
"Hon. M. G. Heath."* 

In October, 1780, at the request of Colonel Varick, who had 
been military secretary to Arnold, and by the advice of General 
Washington, a court of inquiry was held at West Point " to 
ascertain the part acted by Lieut. -Colonel Varick relative to 
the transactions of General Arnold." On this trial those who 
could be present gave testimony. Among others General Pater- 
son sent the letter given below. Colonel Yarick was acquitted. 

" Camp Totaway Oct 19th 1780 
" To the Court of Inquiry on the Conduct of Col. Varick: 

" I hereby certify on Honor, That I have been particulai'ly acquainted 
with Col. Varick ever since June 1777 & have ever found him to be the 
diligent industrious officer ; He always appeared to be sincerely con- 
cerned for the cause of America & never by Actions or Words, gave me 
the least suspicion to the Contrary 

" John Paterson " f 

In October, while concentrating some of the troops at West 
Point, the main army moved to Totoway and remained there 
about six weeks. On October 7th they were at Orange Farm, 
and were ordered to march by Paramus to Totoway and to 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 
f Owned by W. E. Benjamin, New York. 



228 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 stop at Bogart's Mills. The order was : •'' The first column will 
move to the right in the order named and wall take the route 
by Paramus to Totoway, The Connecticut division, General 
Howe's division, Baron Steuben's division, the Massachusetts 
corps will patrol during the march for the purpose of taking 
up stragglers and preventing confusion and disorder. Lord 
Stirling will direct this column. They will make a short halt 
to refresh at Bogart's Mills." On November 9tb Washington 
ordered the Massachusetts troops to winter at West Point. 
On November 27th they left Totoway to man Forts Clin- 
ton, Putnam, Willis, and Webb. 

On the 28th of November Washington wrote to General 
Heath : 

" MoRRiSTOWN, 28th Nov., 1780. 
" To General Heath. 

"Dear Sir, — I gave directions to Generals Glover. Paterson, and 
Huntington to discharge the levies of Connecticut and Massachusetts, 
by degrees, upon their arrival at their places of cantonment, beginning 
with those first who were worst clad and otherwise unfit for service, 
as this would diminish our numbers insensibly, and not give the enemy 
an opportunity of knowing the truth before the time which they 
naturally count upon. You will be pleased to direct the same to be 
done with those of New Hampshire, and consult with General Knox 
upon the propriety of dismissing those attached to the artillery also ; 
for I find we shall have occasion to divest ourselves of every mouth 
that we can possibly do without, and have difficulty enough to 
subsist afterwards." * 

The summer and fall of 1780 were the darkest days of the 
American Revolution. The people were wearied, and while 
the British had gained no substantial ground, it seemed now 
as if they must. Cornwallis was tiushed with victory in the 
south, and again boasted that he would bag in a few weeks 
all that was left of the rebel army. Congress had shown itself 
inefficient and incapable. The people had no confidence in it. 
They seemed to be attacked by a general administrative pa- 
ralysis. They had adopted the policy of " fiat money." Con- 

* Massachusetts Historical Collection, fifth series, vol. iv. 



PAPER MONEY. 229 

gress had no power to tax. lu lien of it they proposed to use 1780 
a printing-press, and really thought that they could create 
value by issuing a promise to pay, based upon nothing. The 
people had suffered more from this depreciation of the cur- 
rency than from the enemy. It was not that the people were 
less patriotic, or the country less rich. There were plenty of 
resources, but the relations of the States to each other were not 
defined. There were jealousies in the States and among the 
mihtary of the different States, so that a great deal of energy 
was frittered away. At the end of 1778 a paper dollar was 
worth sixteen cents in the North and twelve cents in the South. 
In 1780 it fell to two cents, and Washington said it took a 
wagon-load of money to purchase a wagon-load of provisions. 
In October the following wholesale prices ruled in Boston ; 
Indian corn, $150 a bushel ; butter, $12 a pound ; tea, $90 ; 
sugar, $10 ; beef, $8 ; coffee, $12 ; flour, $1575 per barrel. A 
suit of clothes was worth $2000. From here the value of the 
bills went to nothing. The people, and Congress as well, were 
obliged to depend on *' specific supplies." People were not 
paid, but furnished with so much flour, beef, rice, potatoes, 
and rum. The whole country lent itself to the principle of 
the old-fashioned New England " donation parties," still extant 
in New England up to the time of the Civil War. It was the 
darkest period, but it was just before the dawn. If the Amer- 
icans were exliausted, so were the British, and all that was 
necessary to finish the war were the successes which were to 
come in the South. 

After the treason of Ai'nold there was but httle fighting 
in the North. The work of the army consisted mostly of field 
maneuvers, with some few alarms, but few combats. It 
was necessary to hold West Point and the Highlands of the 
Hudson River, and to make feints from there to prevent the 
British from going any distance from New York. The High- 
lands got the name of the "■ hated Highlands " for the reason 
that there were nearly five years of inactivity spent there while 
active campaigning was going on in the South. General Pat- 
erson was one of those condemned to tliis inactivity so far as 



230 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1780 fighting was concerned, but his record dui'ing these years is 
as briglit as it was while he was actively engaged. 

Towards the close of the year Congress determined to re- 
deem the two hundred millions of paper already issued by ten 
millions, bearing interest at five per cent., redeemable in nat- 
ural produce at the end of six years. Four parts of this were 
to go to Congress, six were to be divided proportionally 
among the States according to the amount of old notes which 
they had issued. The expenditures of the year 1780 were 
three millions. The French and Spanish loans and this cred- 
it were expected to cover all immediate claims. The holders 
of the old paper, as they were to receive only one dollar of 
the new issue for forty of the old, did not present it, and be- 
fore long one dollar in coin became worth as much as five 
hundred of the old paper. Under these conditions, in Febru- 
ary, 1781, Robert Morris was appointed to study the financial 
situation. 

On November 28th the army went into winter quarters, the 
Jersey brigades returned to that State, the four Massachusetts 
brigades were added to the garrison at West Point, and the 
two from Connecticut were stationed on the east side of 
the Hudson River opposite to Constitution Island. The gen- 
eral headquarters were established at New Windsor. On 
November 30th General Heath writes : " The four Massa- 
chusetts brigades arrived at West Point, where they went 
into winter quarters." The 4th brigade was assigned to Fort 
Clinton and its dependencies, the 2d to the defense of Forts 
Willis, Putnam, and Webb, the 3d (Paterson's) and the 1st 
to be ready to act as emergency might require, and " on all 
alarms to form on their Brigade parades ready to receive 
orders." This winter General Heath was in command in the 
Highlands and Paterson in command at the "Point." On 
December 1st General Paterson appointed John Purey and 
Patric Conolly sutlers to his brigade, " they obeying the 
Rules k Regulations of the army in that case provided." On 
December 3d General Heath issued the following orders : 

" The fourth brigade is assigned to the defense of Fort Clinton & 



THE DISSATISFIED NOT TRAITORS. 231 

its dependencies ; the second Brigade to the defense of Forts Putnam, 1780-1781 
Willis, & Webb ; Colonel Shepards & Colonel Begelows to the former, 
Colonel Voses to Fort Willis, and Lieutenant-Commandant Smiths' to 
Fort Webb ; the first & third [wliich was General Paterson's] to act as 
circumstances may require, and on all alarms to form on their Brigade 
parades ready to receive orders." * 

In a letter to "John Sullivan, in Congress," dated "New 
Windsor, 17 December, 1780," Washington writes: "The 
number of brigadiers in the states I have mentioned [viz., the 
States "from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania inclusively "] 
amounts at this time to no more than 8, viz., Stark of N. 
Hampshire, Glover and Paterson of Massachusetts, Hunting- 
ton of Connecticut, Clinton of New York, and Wayne, Hand, 
and Irvine of Pennsylvania." f 

The year 1780-81 was one of great distress. General Pater- 
son spent the winter at West Point. The season was a severe 
one. The troops had neither sufficient clothing nor food. 
The currency of the country was whoUy of paper, which was 
depreciated and depreciating. The army had been obhged to 
seize grain to keep themselves alive, as the States neglected 
or refused to furnish it. We had been defeated at Charles- 
ton in May, and at Camden in August. We had received 
reinforcements from France, but they had done but little. 
Arnold was a traitor. The war was long, and the people be- 
gan to be tired, and to show the effects of it in apathy about 
the army. Many of the enlistments had been made just after 
Saratoga for " three years or the war," but the three years 
were up, and the war seemed no nearer its close than before. 
The soldiers wished to be released, but the officers insisted on 
the contract being kept. Some of the troops marched out of 
their camps in excellent order to go to Philadelphia to frighten 
Congress into granting them redress. They refused to listen 
to the British emissaries ; they were not traitors ; and actually 
hanged the men who came from them as spies. They refused 

* " Revolutionary Orders of General Washington," p. 144. • 

f Ford's " Life of Washington," vol. ix., p. 67. 



282 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1781 to listen to the officers sent to them by Washington ; but 
finally, when the president of Congress granted them all their 
terms, they quietly dispersed. The next mutiny, on the 20th 
of January, was not treated in this way. The troops were 
surrounded, forced to lay down their arms, and the ringlead- 
ers shot. 

On January 1st the army was re-brigaded, and Paterson's 
brigade was made the 2d Massachusetts brigade and in- 
cluded the 2d Massachusetts regiment. Colonel Sprout ; the 
8th, Colonel M. Jackson ; and the 5th, Colonel Putnam. His 
aide-de-camp was Lieutenant Thomas Cole, and his brigade 
chaplain was Rev. Enos Hitchcock, a graduate of Harvard 
and afterward a celebrated Doctor of Divinity at Beverly, 
Massachusetts. On January 1, 1781, they were at New Wind- 
sor. On January 15tli, from West Point, General Knox ap- 
pealed to Congress on behalf of the Massachusetts troops. 
The order given below shows how the troops were paid, and 
the confidence which the authorities felt in the eventual suc- 
cess of the war : 

" Commonwealth of Massachusetts : 

" By His Excellency the Grovernor 

"You are by and with the Advice and Consent of Conncil, ordered and 
directed to pay unto John Paterson Brigr General the Sum of One liundred 
and Twelve pounds ten shillings one half thereof to be paid in Specie the 
other half in Bills of the New Emission at their nominal value which is 
to be hereafter ascertained on account of three Months pay for the year 
1780 agreeable to a resolve of the 16 June last for which this shall be 
your Warrant. 

" Given under my hand at Boston the Seventh Day of August 1781 in 
the Sixth Year of American Independence. 

"f^^'^•^o "John Hancock.* 

" To Hon. Henry Gardner Esq Treasurer. 

"By Order of the Governor with the Advice and Consent of Council 

"John Avery Sec'ry 
"His Excellency the Governor & Honble Council. 

"This Certifies that John Paterson Esq, Brigadier General is intitled 
to receive One hundred & twelve pounds ten shillings in Specie being for 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. cexxvii., p. 351. 



TARDY PAYMENT OF THE SOLDIERS. 233 

wages due to him in the last three months of the year 1780 Agreeable to 1781 

a resolve of the General Court of March last. 

" Stephen Gorman ) 
"ThosWalley /Committee." 
" Samuel Austin ) 

In May and June General Paterson was at West Point, where 
he received personal orders from Washington to hold the troops 
in constant readiness for action, to instruct the water-guards to 
maintain extra vigilance, and to use every endeavor to obtain 
information of the enemy's numbers and designs, and to report 
to him at New Windsor daily. The following receipt and 
order from Lenox show how tardy and of how little value was 
the payment of the troops : 

" I hereby certify that Mr Ebenezer Bement of Great Barrington on 

the 10th clay of June A D 1777 was by Genii Orders Appointed Brigade 

Major to Me. In Office he continued to Act, with reputation Till the 

seventh day of July then next. When at the Battle of Hubarton he was 

wounded and taken Prisoner, and was not exchanged till the seventh of 

January 1779 and had not Eec'd the nominal sum of his Wagers untill the 

12th of August 1779 I think it my duty on this Occasion to Observe that 

it appears to me Highlj^ reasonable that Majr Bement should be allowed 

for the depreciation of the Currency to the time he Eeceived the nominal 

sum in Continental Currency which was the 12th of August 1779. 

"John Paterson B Genl.* 
" Lenox April 1781. " 

In May, in fear of an attack. General Washington sent the 
following letter to General Paterson, which, with the reply, is 
given below : 

•'To Brig.-Gen. Paterson at West Point, H. Q., Kew Windsor, May 14th, 
1781. 

" Dear Sir : I have received yours of this day. Should the enemy still 
be out, you will instantly put the Connecticut Line in motion, with orders 
to reinforce the corps under Colonel Scammel. The troops must all be 
held in the most perfect readiness for action, and the water-guards be 
instructed to use the greatest vigilance. 

''Every effort will be necessary to gain early, regular, and constant in- 
telligence of the enemy's niimber, motions, and designs, which you will 
be pleased to communicate to me. 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. ccxxxiv., p. 290. 



284: LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1781 " Should auytliing material happen, I shall wish to be informed imme. 
diately, and even though nothing of consequence should take place, you 
will please to let me hear from you by morning. 

"I am, etc., 

" George "Washington." ' 

" West Point, May 14, 1781. 
" Sir : I have just received your Excellency's letter. The Enemy hav- 
ing retired makes the Disposition mentioned in your letter, with respect 
to them, at this Time unnecessary. This moment I have received the 
inclosed Letters, which agreeable to your Excellency's desire, as they 
contain the latest Intelligence I have, I have transmitted. Should I hear 
anything more respecting this unhappy affair, I shall as early as possible 
communicate it to your Excellency. 
"lam 

" respectfully 

"j^our obedient and very humble 
' * Servant 
"John Paterson." t 
His Excellency General "Washington. 

Endorsed 

From General Paterson 
enclosing letter from Col. Scammell. 

In the " Keturns of the Third Mass. Brigade. — Commanded 
by Brigadier General John Paterson, Sept. 4, 1779, to Oct. 
27, 1781," only the Colonels' names appear of the regiments 
in the brigade. 

In the "Eeturns of the First Mass. Brigade— Nov., 1781, to 

Oct., 1783, Commanded by Brig. Gen. John Glover, Col. Wm. 

Shepard, Col. Joseph Vose, and Brig. Gen. John Paterson," 

appears the following : 

" Return of the First Mass. Brigade of foot. Commanded by John 
Paterson, Esqr B. Gen'l. 

Absent Officers, &c. 



on the staff 



Capts 
Lieuts 



Gushing 


Nason 


Haskell 


Bill 


Cole 


Reab 


Trowbridge 




Bowles 


Dec. 14th 


Davis 


ditto, with 


Haskell 


names of 


Egleston 


North and 


Walker 


Cogswell 


Tucker 


added " 



* Washington's " Letters," vol. iii.. No. 65. 
t Collection of S. Gratz, Esq., of Philadelphia. 



GENERAL PATERSON's BUDGET FOR 1781-82. 



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236 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1781 Early in May, 1781, General Paterson received under his 
authority a soldier who turned out to be a womari, Deborah 
Sampson, who enlisted as a man in Captain Webb's company 
in Colonel Shepard's regiment, under the name of Robert 
Shurtlieff. Her height was recorded by the proper officer as 
5 feet, 7^ inches ; eyes hazel, inclining to blue. She enlisted 
in Worcester in company with a large number of other 
recruits. At West Point her civilian salt was exchanged for 
the Continental uniform, which was a blue coat, faced with 
white, a white vest, breeches, stockings with black straps 
about the knees, half-boots, black stock made of velvet 
stiffened with leather, a cap with a variegated cockade on 
one side, a white plume tipped with red on the other, and a 
white sash about the crown. She was furnished with a French 
fuse and bayonet, knapsack, cartridge-box, and twenty car- 
tridges. In the month of June she was sent with part of her 
company to Harlem and White Plains. They defeated there 
a party of the enemy, and though the battle was unexpected 
and furious and the man next to her was shot dead at the 
second discharge, she says that she suffered less from fear 
than fatigue, thirst, and the heat of the day. She was after- 
wards transferred with most of her company to Colonel 
Henry Jackson's regiment. 

The American forces early in June were joined by the 
French from Newport under Colonel Rochambeau. After 
a series of maneuvers made to deceive the enemy into the 
belief that an attack on New York was intended, the whole 
allied army, about the 20th, under the command of Wash- 
ington, took up its march for the Chesapeake. The army 
went from the head of the bay to James River in a fleet 
of transports, consisting of more than 100 vessels, furnished 
for this occasion by the French Admiral, Count de Grasse, 
for the capture of Yorktown. She bore the great fatigue 
and did extraordinary work, unwilling to be outdone by the 
men in the trenches, and was often exposed to fire. On 
the night of the 7th of October, she was one in a large 



DEBORAH SAMPSON. 237 

detachment under General Lincoln who were ordered to 1781 
open trenches within a mile of the enemy's lines. The 
night was one of severe labor and exposure, and in the morn- 
ing General Lincoln, noticing her extreme exhaustion and 
blistered hands, said, " You have had too great a share of 
fatigue, my fine lad. Eetire to your tent and pleasantly 
dream an hour or two." Day after day for a week the air was 
filled with shot and shell. Two large redoubts were held by 
the enemy three hundred yards in advance of the American 
lines and severely enfiladed the besieging forces. It was 
necessary to carry these redoubts by assault. The attack 
of one was entrusted to a body of French troops under 
Baron Yiomenil, and the other to American infantry under 
the Marquis de Lafayette. She was engaged in this attack. 
The redoubts were carried on the 15th at the point of the 
bayonet. On the 18th Cornwallis surrendered. 

After the surrender the army returned North by the same 
route it bad come, and went into winter quarters on the 
Hudson. In June, 1782, she with thirty others volunteered 
on an expedition against a party of Tories who were com- 
mitting outrages on the east of the Hudson. She received 
two wounds, one in the left temple and the other in the thigh 
near the groin. She was carried to the hospital, but con- 
cealed the wound in the thigh and extracted the ball herself, 
so that her sex escaped detection. In all respects she acted 
with bravery, firmness, and resolution equal to any soldier 
in the regiment. 

Peace was proclaimed on the 19th of April, 1788. Being 
sent to Philadelphia during the summer of that year, she was 
seized with a malignant fever, which nearly ended her life. 
During this attack. Dr. Binney, the surgeon, discovered her 
sex, but the secret was kept and she was transferred to the 
apartments of the matron of the establishment, and as soon 
as she was able to ride she was taken to Dr. Binney's house 
and treated with great attention. On her departure for camp 
for the purpose of being discharged, Dr. Binney gave her a 



288 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHX PATERSON. 

1781 letter to General Paterson, in wliicli he disclosed the fact of 
her sex and the manner in which it was discovered. The 
General treated her very kindly. She had been well known 
to him as a brave soldier and had, during a part of the third 
year, acted as his aide-de-camp and lived in his family during 
the illness of Major Haskell, who was his aide-de-camp. 
General Paterson supplied her with a suit of female apparel, 
but she continued to wear her military costume during the 
following winter. She received an honorable discharge on 
October 23, 1783, from General Knox. Testimonials of faith- 
ful performance of duty and of exemplary conduct were 
given by General Paterson, General Shepard, Colonel Henry 
Jackson, and others. Colonel Jackson's certificate reads : 

" To all whom it may concern : This may certify that Robert Shurt- 
lieff was a soldier in my regiment in the Continental Army, from the 
town of XJxbridge, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and was 
enlisted for the term of three years ; that he had the confidence of his 
officers and did his duty as a faithful and good soldier and was honor- 
ably discharged the army of the United States." 

She arrived amongst her relatives in Massachusetts in 
November, 1783. She did not immediately make herself 
known, but at length resumed feminine dress and employ- 
ments. In 1784 she became the wife of Benjamin Gannett. 
She had one son. Captain Earl Gannett, and two daughters. 
She died at her home in Sharon, April 27, 1827, aged 67, sus- 
taining to the end the character of a faithful and exemplary 
wife and mother and a kind neighbor and friend. 

As a soldier she showed great activity, courage, and valor. 
On scouting parties she would usually ride forward a little 
nearer the enemy than any of her comrades dared. She was 
very fleet and had the reputation of being the fastest runner 
in the army. She went through three campaigns without the 
discovery of her sex and consequently without the loss of her 
virtue. Her delicate appearance and particularly her having 
no beard was often noticed, but her sex was never suspected. 

An Act was passed allowing her full pay from the 1st of 



DEBORAH SAMPSON". 239 

January, 1783, for the rest of her life. In 1832 her husband 1781 
was granted the same pension as a widow. 

She was in Captain Webb's company, in the 4th Mas- 
sachusetts regiment. On January 20, 1792, the General 
Court of Massachusetts resolved, on the petition of Deborah 
Gannett for compensation for services performed in the late 
army of the United States : 

' ' Whereas it appears to this Court that the said Deborah Gannett 
enlisted under the name of Robert Shurtlieflf , in Captain Webb's Com- 
pany in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment, May 21, 1781, and did 
actually perform the duties of a soldier in the late army of the United 
States to the 23rd day of October, 1783, for which she received no 
compensation : And whereas it further appears that the said Deborah 
exhibited an extraordinary instance of female heroism by discharging 
the duties of a faithful and gallant soldier, and at the same time pre- 
served the virtue and chastity of her sex, unsuspected and unblemished, 
and was discharged from the service with a fair and honorable char- 
acter: Therefore, Resolved, that the Treasurer of this Commonwealth 
be and he hereby is directed to issue his note to said Deborah for the 
sum of 34 pounds, bearing interest from Oct. 23rd, 1783." * 

Thirty-four pounds of Massachusetts currency were equiv- 
alent to a little more than $100. 

Deborah Sampson was born on December 17, 1760. At 
the age of five, her father being absent at sea, or having per- 
ished in shipwreck, she was separated from her mother on 
account of the pressure of want. After a few years, she was 
placed in the family of Deacon Jeremiah Thomas, in Middle- 
boro, where she remained until the age of ten years. She was 
very fond of books, but the use of them was sternly frowned 
upon in this family. However, she succeeded in reading, so 
that when not quite seventeen she was made teacher of a pub- 
lic school in Middleboro. Thebooks used in this school were 
the "New England Primer," a spelling-book, the " Psalter," and 
the "New Testament." A sheet of paper was sometimes al- 
lowed the boys to learn penmanship. The chief occupation of 
the girls was to learn to knit and sew. At the age of twenty, she 

* " Giles Memorial," by Vinton, p. 430. 



240 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1781 was filled with a patriotic desire to serve the country, and de- 
termined for that purpose to assume male attire. The design 
was not hastily formed, as she had been considering it for 
several months. She was disgusted with the low employ- 
ment that was forced upon her, and she had a great desire to 
see the world, and was, besides, extremely patriotic. She had 
heard the boom of the cannon from Bunker Hill, and it had 
inspired her with a desire to be in the fray, fighting for lib- 
erty. She spun the cloth out of which her suit of men's 
attire was made, with her own hands. In April, 1781, she 
left home secretly and proposed at first to engage on board 
of a privateer, but gave it up when she heard that the cap- 
tain treated his men harshly. The population of each town 
was divided into classes, as they were called, and each class 
was obliged to furnish a soldier for the army. Sh,. enlisted, 
and was accepted for one of the classes of Uxbridge.* 

On May 11, 1781, General Paterson was put in command 
at West Point. 

" Garrison, West Point. 
"May 11, 1781. 
" Gen. Heath being called away to another quarter for a few days 
the Command of the garrison will devolve on Brig. Gen. Paterson 
until further orders." f 

On June 26th General Paterson and others were called 
upon to account for the moneys they had received for re- 
cruiting, which they did. 

" House of Rep. June 26th 1781 
" Whereas B. Gen. Paterson and other officers, have received money 
from Treasurer of this Commonwealth by themselves or through Maj. 
Gen. Heath, for the purpose of recruiting and have not rendered an 
ace. of expenditure of same, 

"Resolved — that the committee appointed to settle with this States 
Quota of Con. Army be & hereby are impowered & directed to call 
upon B. Gen. Paterson, and any other off. who has rec'd money for 
the purpose of recruiting men for the Army to render to said com- 

* Extracted from " The Spirit of '76." 

f Heath's Order Book, Massachusetts Historical Society. 



DIARY OF CLAUDE BLANCHARD. 241 

mittee an account of expenditure of said money, in order that the 1781 
same may be adjusted in the settlement of their accounts for the 
year 1780 

"Approved by John Hancock." 

The following extract is taken from the journal of Claude 
Blanchard, commissary of the French army sent to America 
during the Revolution : 

"I set out very early on the 26th June, 1781, and reached the 
American army. I stopped at Peekskill, a small village. I could 
hardly find a room in the inn, which was occupied by Mr. Paterson 
one of the American generals. Peekskill is situated on the North river 
which is very broad ; it is almost an arm of the sea, which vessels of 
war ascend. In some respects it divides America into two parts, and it 
is upon this river that the fortifications of West Point are found, the 
important post which Arnold had intended to give up to the English. I 
went to speak to General Paterson, who gave me an aide-de-camp, to 
conduct me to General Washington whose quarters were at a distance 
of two miles. I found him sitting upon a bench at the door of the 
house where he lodged. I explained my mission to him and he gave 
me a letter for the quartermaster of Peekskill landing, to which I pro- 
ceeded. These quartermasters have here, in the army, almost the same 
functions as we, but with more authority. I set out immediately upon 
the same horses, although I had more than eight leagues to travel, and 
in the rain. I passed through another Peekskill where the Americans 
have their magazines and their arsenals. These are large wooden 
barracks, built recently, situated between two ranges of mountains. 
This other Peekskill is on the bank of the river ; it is there they are 
building our ovens, a business which I found very little advanced. 
The builder, desiring to make them elegant, sent to a distance for the 
materials. The next day I went to Poughkeepsie, a village where it 
was proposed to establish our hospitals, five leagues beyond Peekskill 
landing, on the road to Albany, and, consequently, to Canada." . . . 

"On the 29th June, 1781. I got on horseback to see some barracks 
which had been occupied by an American regiment during the winter ; 
my purpose was to establish a hospital there. On the road I met 
Genei-al Washington, who was going to review a part of his troops. 
He recognized me, stopped and invited me to dine with him at three 
o'clock. I repaired thither ; there were twenty-five covers used by 
some officers of the army and a lady to whom the house belonged in 
which the General lodged. We dined under the tent. I was placed 
along side of the General. One of his aides-de-camp did the honors. 
. . . I have dwelt upon the details of this dinner, because every- 
thing that relates to General Washington seems interesting to me. 



242 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1781 ... I have already described his figure. His physiognomy has 
something grave and serious, but it is never stern, and, on the con- 
trary, becomes softened by the most gracious and amiable smile. He 
is affable and converses vi-ith his officers familiarly and gaily. I was 
not sufficiently accustomed to the English language to maintain a 
connected conversation with him ; nevertheless we exchanged some 
words, for instance, respecting the battle of the Chesapeake, which he 
considered glorious to our arms. ... In the evening I saw him 
again ; he had come to see General Paterson, in whose house I was 
lodging. He invited me to come and dine with him as long as I re- 
mained in his quarters. On the next day, passing by this house again, 
he stopped there, caused me to be called, and proposed to me to dine 
at the house of one of the American Generals to which he was going." 

In June the army went into the field at Peekskill. Wash- 
ington moved down to Yonkers for a feint upon New York. 
General Paterson's brigade was in General Lincoln's division, 
left of first line. In July, 1781, he marched from Peekskill 
toward New York, and took position at Phillipsburg, near 
Dobbs' Ferry. On July 21st they were at Verplanck's and 
Stony Point. During the winter of 1779-80 the harbor of 
New York was frozen over so solidly that crossing from shore 
to shore was easily done. This was a constant menace to the 
British, who feared that the Americans would take this occa- 
sion to attack the city. The American army was too destitute 
to attempt any field maneuvers on a large scale, but this was 
fortunately not known to the British. The fear of the British 
that an attack would be made was a strong defense to these 
destitute troops. Both parties were content to watch each 
other's movements. Nothing was done during the summer 
which realized any substanial gain to either party. In May, 
1781, Washington held a conference with Rochambeau, the 
French commander, as the result of which the French fleet set 
sail, it was thought, for the Hudson. Clinton kept himself 
fully informed of these movements. He expected an attack, 
and the greater part of the American army expected to make 
it. Washington had studiously fostered this idea. Move- 
ments of the troops were constantly made, apparently with 
the idea of confirming this opinion. In Jul}^ with this end in 



ORDERS FOR AUGUST, 1781. 2-43 

view, an attack was made on the English posts. Clinton, cer- 1781 
tain that the expected attack on New York was soon to be 
made, called on Cornwallis in Yorktown for troops. Each 
army was on the alert against any movement. On August 
14th Washington heard that Count de Grasse was to enter 
the Chesapeake. The American posts were all garrisoned 
for defense — those in the north for any attack from Canada, 
and those on the Hudson from New York. Every means 
was taken to convince Clinton that New York was in great 
danger. 

The following orders, taken from Glover's Orderly Book, 
were given on their respective dates : 

" Head Quarters 

" Philipsh 3rd Augt 1781 

( Brigdr Genl Paterson 

" For the day to morrow J ^^ ^^^^^^^^^ Ba*^'^™ 

1 Inspectr Capt. Convers 

( Piquet Major Spurr " 

"Head Quarters Philipsbh 

"9th Augst 1781 
f Brigdr Genl Paterson 

" For the day to morrow J ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ 

1 Insptr Capt. Convers 
( Piquet Majr Gibbs " 

" Head Qrs Philipsbourg 

"16 Augst 1781 

( Brigadier Genl Paterson 

" For the day to morrow J ^'^"* ^°^^"^^ Badlam 
J Inspectr Capt. Drew 

( Piquet Major Spurr." 
" Head Qrs North Castle 22nd Augt nsi 

( Brigdr Genl Paterson 

" For the day to morrow -< Colonel Butler 

i Inspr Capt. Smith " 

On August 11, 1781, Samuel B. Webb wrote: 



24-i LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1781 " Mr. President and Gent of the Court. 

' ' Generals Glover & Paterson will I presume recollect knowing of my 
appointment while at Trenton ; the latter If my recollection does not 
fail me I conversed with on the subject. Lt C0I9 Scull was offered by 
me when at Trenton a Company in my Battalion, which he would 
[have] accepted, but was offered a Majority directly after. It cannot 
be supposed that His Excellency intended Major Lee to have the Rank 
of me in the 16 when I was then serving as a Lieut. Col9- The In- 
stance between Lt Colonels M. Jackson & Weston & Colonel Marshall 
are instances which claim the attention of this Board." * 

The following orders were issued on the dates specified: 

" Head Qrs, Philipsbg 20th Augt 1781 
" Majr Geni Lord Sterling will take Command of the right wing of 
this Army. Majr Genl How the Command of the left wing. Brigr 
Genl Glover will take Command of the division Commanded by Maj. 
Geni Lincoln & Brigr Genl Paterson." 

" Head Quarters 24th Augt 1781 Peekskill 
' ' The General thanks the Generals and other officers for their atten- 
tion & exertion to preserve order on the march to this place & is much 
pleased with the regularity & soldierly behavior of the troops. The 
army having now arrived at the camp where they will probably remain 
for some days, the greatest attention is to be paid to the perfecting the 
troops in the exercise & manuvers, and performing every part of the 
camp duty with greatest exactness conformable to the Regulations." 

On August 19th Washington broke up camp on the east 
side of the Hudson, crossed the river, and started for York- 
town. Clinton knew of this movement, but still firm in his 
belief that New York was to be attacked, thought that it 
was to be done by way of Staten Island. The army left on 
the Hudson maneuvered in such a way as to confirm this 
belief. On August 23d Washington issued general orders for 
the march. The next day the army had started south. It was 
not until about September 1st, when Washington was ready 
to cross the Delaware, that Clinton discovered his mistake, 
and it was then too late for him to oppose the movement. 
Tlie army in the Highlands prevented any serious movement 
of the British, either in New York or New England, and made 
it unsafe for Clinton to send any reinforcements to Cornwallis 
* " Correspondence and Journals of Samuel Blachley Webb," vol. ii. 



GENERAL PATERSON AT WEST POINT. 245 

at Yorktown. When Washington started for Yorktown he 1781 
needed men on whose judgment he could have perfect reli- 
ance, and in whose ability to check any advance on the river 
fortifications he could trust, and so General Paterson and 
others were left to watch the British in New York from their 
strongholds on the Hudson. In August, September, and Oc- 
tober General Paterson was at West Point, in November he 
was at New Windsor, and in December he was at Yerplanck's 
Point with General Washington. On December 15th he was 
again at the ".Point." On that day it was ordered " General 
Paterson's brigade will muster on Monday next at 11 A.M." 
The Massachusetts divisions remained under General Heath 
to defend the Highlands. General Heath fell back to Peeks- 
kill, and the following winter of 1781-82 was spent for the 
most part at West Point. From January to May, 1782, Gen- 
eral Paterson was at New York Huts, near the "Point." 
The following orders were issued by Major-General Heath : 

" Headquarters Peekskill 3rd Sept^ 1781 
" There being at this time Several Captains Vacant in the Massachu- 
setts Hne, to which the Capt Lieuts stand first Intitled, being of a 
grade Senior to the 1st Lieuts. Brigadiers Glover & Paterson with 
Lieut. Col. Hull are appointed a board to settle & determine the rela- 
tive ranks of the Capt Lieuts of said line & report, that recommenda- 
tions for their promotions may be made accordingly, the board will 
also take into Consideration the claim of Lt Walker and others thereon, 
and also hear & determine the dispute of ranks between the Sabaltern 
officers of the Masstts Line Conformable to the report of the board of 
Genl Officers to the Commdr in Chief." 

On Wednesday, September 19, 1781, Paterson's brigade 
moved on to West Point, and all the detachments there joined 
the respective regiments to which they belonged. 

On November 23d General Paterson wrote to General 
Heath : 

" West Point 23rd Nov 1781. 
"Sir. 

' ' I have as Genl McDougall is absent received the prisoners sent here 
by your Order. It is impossible to find them any cover at present, the 
new provost is not finished and the old is now so full that they cannot 



2-i6 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1781 sit or lie down it consists of but two small Rooms and has sixty eight 
persons confined in it, forty five of which are prisoners of war lately 
arrived from Alban3\ 

' ' I have ordered the twenty from Camp for this evening confined in 
the lower Room of the new but they must lie on the ground and 
mostly uncovered. I wish for their sakes and the sake of the garrison 
if it can be that the prisoners of war may be sent away to moiTow the 
season is so cold that the Health of the Guard as well as prisoners must 
be exposed lying on the ground uncovered. 

" I am Sir 

" Your very humble Servant 

"John Paterson.* 
•' Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath." 

On December 7th General Paterson wrote again to General 

Heath : 

" West Point 7th Dec. 1781 
'♦Sir 

" I am informed by Mr Edwards D M that the light Infantry have 
the small pox among them if this should be the case and they 
admitted into the Barracks and Hutts, it may be attended with fatal 
consequences, and perhaps be communicated through the Militia all 
over New England. 

" I have mentioned it to Genl McDougall who being in haste desired 
me to write to you on the subject, he thinks they ought to be kept 
separate for a few days and wishes me to suggest whether the Ham- 
shire Hutts could not be assigned for that purpose until it can be 
known whether they are infested or not. 

" I am Sir your most 

" humble Servant 

" John Paterson. f 
"Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath." 

On December 8, 1781, the following brigade orders were 
issued : 

" One Hundred and fifty boards are now ready to be delivered. Q 
Master Foot will call on Genl Glover at Genl Patersons Quarters, when 
an order for the boards will be ready, they will be equally divided 
between the Regiments." X 

The following garrison orders were issued by General 
Paterson on December 14, 1781 : 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 
f Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 
X American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



GENERAL PATEESON IN COM^IAND OF WEST POINT. 247 

"The Drummers of Geni Patersons Brigade, will beat off the Revilee 1782 
Troop and Retreat, from the Commandants Quarters except in foul or 
extreem cold weather." * 

On December 15th : 

" The Regimental Surgeons of Genl Patersons Brigade will, by a 
weekly notation, to be settled among themselves take care of the pris- 
oners in provost till a Surgeon of the Hospital comes on the Point." f 

On January 18, 1782, General Heath put General Paterson 

in command of West Point : 

" Head Quarters Highlands 

" Jany 18, 1782 
"Major General McDougall being ordered in arrest, the Command 
of the Garrison of West Point devolving on you, you will please to 
exercise the Command accordingly the Posts at Verplanks and Stony 
Points are considered dependencies of the Command, you will please 
pay all possible attention to the Garrison Forts Redoubts Magazines 
etc — and see that everything is kept in as perfect condition as possible, 
and the greatest vigilance observed by the guards and sentinels, please 
advise me frequently of the state of things. 

" I am with great regards 
" Dear Sir 

" Your obed Servt 

"W. Heath:}: 
" Brigadier General Paterson." 

To this letter General Paterson replied, on the 19th: 

" West Point Jan. 19 1782 
" Dear Sir 

" I received yours of yesterday appointing me to the command of 
the Garrison in consequence of General McDougall's arrest. 

" I wish to know from you whether I am to consider this as a Gar- 
rison or not — If it is a Garrison how far my orders ought to extend 
and where they are to be limited, this I must request least I should 
tread on forbidden ground 

" I am dear Sir, your most obedient 
" humble servant 

"John Paterson ^ 
" Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath." 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 
f American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 
X Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 
§ Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



248 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1782 To this letter General Heath replied : 

" Head Quarters, Highlands Jany 19 1782 
" Dear Sir, 

" Your favor of this date is just come to hand. West Point is now 
considered in the same light as it was heretofore, no new ordinance or 
general order that I know of has made it otherwise it is considered as 
a Garrison but is not placed under the command of a Governor with a 
distinct or separate command as Cities Towns or Fortified Places 
sometimes are. It has been, you are sensible, and now is to be con- 
sidered under the command of the Commanding General of the De- 
partment to whose General Orders the Commandant and Garrison are 
to yield obedience in common with other posts and parts of the army. 
But the Commandant has the command of the Police and Government 
of the place in such manner as he may think proper not repugnant to 
the orders of the Commanding General for there must you are sensible 
always be One Head, the Deputy of each Department present, and all 
the great Magazines and reserves in the Department which are designed 
for the use of every post or place within the Department are subject to 
the orders and control of the Commanding General only as the princi- 
ples of Department are to the Commander in Chief, and as the officers 
of respective departments are accountable for all stores etc. which 
they receive, and no order but that of the Commanding General or 
such person as he may delegate a power to, is at liberty to do it can be 
a voucher in passing the accounts if such officers as are entrusted with 
public stores, but the assistant of each Department placed at any post, 
and the stores under their respective directions designed for the use of 
such posts are equally under the orders and directions of the Com- 
mandant conformable to the regulations — all the posts in the Highlands 
are strictly dependencies of West Point, but when the whole army be- 
come a Garrison to these posts as is at present the case the service 
requires that some of the posts be under the immediate command of 
different officers, Stoney and Verplanks points are still considered as 
dependencies of West Point are therefore subject to your immediate 
orders, and I wish your every attention to those as well as all other 
matters necessary to the good of the service in the Garrison or at any 
of the works at West Point. Please also remember that the Guard 
Magazines are to claim your utmost attention for their preservation. 
If this is not sufficiently explicit I will further explain any matter 
which you may request. 

" I am with great regards 
" Dear Sir 

" Your obed. Servt 
" W. Heath.* 

" Brig. Gen. Paterson." 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



CONDITION OF WEST POINT. 249 

On January 19th General Heath wrote to General 1*^82 

Paterson : 

" Head Quarters Highlands Jan 19 1782 
"Dear Sir 

" I will thank you for information, how and to what works the 
different Brigades and Regiments which compose the garrison, are 
disposed, this should be done in such a manner as to be perfectly un- 
derstood by every officer and man. I presume it was done by Major 
General McDougall, but as I have not seen the distribution, request it 
by the first opportunity, understanding that you have some doubts on 
your mind whether by the general order of the 4th Instant you could 
open the Guard Magazine in case of any sudden attack on the post of 
West Point that order was not intended to operate in such an Emer- 
gancy, nor is it to be understood, in such case the Commandant of the 
Artillery for the posts would instantly see that every gun etc was 
properly found. It is the issue in common cases which are forbid by 
the order of the 4th which order must be strictly obeyed. Enclosed 
you have the Paroles and countersigns from the 19th to the 23rd 
Inclusive. 

" I am with great regards 
" Dear Sir 

' ' Your obed Servt 

" W. Heath.* 
" Brig. Gen. Paterson." 

On January 22d General Paterson replied : 

" West Point Jan 22 1782 
*' Dear Sir 

" The Troops of the Garrison, previous to my taking the command 
were destined to the several works in the following manner viz — The 
second Massachusetts regiment Forts no 1 & 2. — Fifth, no 3 & 4. — 
Eighth, Forts Putnamand Wyllys — The corps of Sappers and Miners, all 
the Inhabitants in the vicinity of the Garrison with the Settlers under 
the command of Capt. Buchanan (optional to choose their other offi- 
cers) and the Artilleiy not Designated to any particular post, in Fort 
Clinton — The First Brigade a reserve. Foi't Clinton is so embosomed 
among the other works it was proper to leave it more thinly manned 
and the out lines strongly guarded. These alarm posts are well known 
to the regiments, as they have frequently taken them. 

"There is a detachment constantly employed in making and have 
already made upwards of ninety thousand shingles of a verj' good 
quality — the number is to be completed to one hundred and twenty 
thousand for the purpose of covering the hospital, and some buildings 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



250 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 which are to be placed near the upper Landing, for the use of the 
Quarter-Masters Department and the Artillery. We have a party dig- 
ging and piling up stone for the purpose of the aforesaid buildings. A 
quantity of clay is dug within a few rods of the Barracks sufficient to 
make a brick kiln in the Spring. A Lime Kiln is established in the 
vicinity of this Garrison in which has already been made fifty one 
barrels of unslacked lime at one time. 

" A detachment of fifty or sixty men properly officei*ed under the 
direction of Col. Putnam, are employed on the new road : this being 
of great consequence to the garrison , particularly so should there be no 
communication to the Country by the River. I intend to push it with 
the greatest vigor, unless I have your orders to the contrary. 

" I afford the contractors every necessary aid in the power of the 
garrison for getting in provisions. 

"The necessity of the soldiers making a military appearance on 
duty agreeable to the orders of his excellency the Commander in chief, 
requires a certain quantity of soap and flour for dressing, the manner 
to obtain which I wish you to point out. 

" Col. Putnam having been chosen to join General Knox in present- 
ing a memorial and petition to Congress which he will have the honor 
to lay before you ; Col. Putnam informed the officers you expected 
him to assist you in settling some Forage accounts — the gentlemen 
considering the short time (two or three weeks) it is expected he will 
be employed, desire you will dispense with him during that time, 
which I wish you to signify to me, if it is your pleasure. 

" I have received information from the officers commanding at 
Stoney [and] Verplanks points, that the allowance of candles is by no 
means sufficient for performing of their posts during the night. I 
wish to know how they are to be supplied with a sufficiency. 

"The soldiers of the 8th Regiment broke out yesterday with the 
small pox in consequence of which I have just seen one of the con- 
tractors. Directed him to go to Fishkill to hurry on the hospital stores. 
It is my intention that the innoculation commence on their arrival. 

' ' I have ordered a return of all ordnance stores assigned to the 
different works under my command with an estimate of what will be 
necessary, which I shall transmit you as soon as it is handed me. 

" I am respectfully Sir 
" Your most obedient 
' ' humble servt 

" John Paterson.* 
" Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath." 

To this letter General Heath replied : 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston 



CONDITIONS AT WEST POINT. 251 

" Head Quarters Highlands Jan 23. 1783 1782 
"Dear Sir. 

" Your favor of yesterday was duly received, as I think some altera- 
tion may be made in the disposition of the Troops of the Garrison 
to their alarm posts I will defer observations thereon for the subject of 
another letter. 

" I am happy to hear that so large resources for materials for 
building are found in and near the garrison as they will tend to 
facilitate the completion and repairs of the public works which will 
claim the first attention of the artisans in the Spring and which neces- 
sity compelled us to omit last Fall, the collecting these may be very 
well but I would not have the men too much worn down during the 
winter with hard extra fatigue, their health and discipline are to be pre- 
served and their situation made as comfortable in Quarters as possible 
that they may be rendered ' fit for early, vigorous and decisive action.' . 

" If the road you mention promises to be of public utility I would 
have you prosecute the compleating of it. The scantiness of the allow- 
ance of soap I have represented to the Secretary of war having been 
long convinced that it was not sufficient. 

" I am exceedingly sorry that I cannot consent to Col. Putnam's go- 
ing to Philadelphia on the business you mention. He is named one of 
the arbitrators for Settling an intricate and difficult dispute respecting 
the Forage consumed by the allied army in West Chester County the 
last summer. My instructions from Congress are pointed respecting 
it and the State of New York consider it as a very interesting object to 
them. The arbitrators are soon to meet, were it not for this Circum- 
stance nothing beside should lead me to deny the request and in the 
present case I assure myself the officers will be satisfied with the reason 
of the denial. 

"The Quarter Master General is now here, he will soon issue the 
Barracks allowance of candles, which will remove the difficulty you 
mention at Kingsferry and afford relief elsewhere. 

" I think it highly necessary that you should put the Troops under 
Innoculation the moment the stores are ready. I am glad to hear 
you have sent to quicken them. The Innoculation will be another 
consideration for lessening your fatigue. 

"Please inform me what officers now command at Verplank and 
Stoney Points. 

" I am with great regard 
" Dear Sir 

" Your obed. Serv* 

' W. Heath.* 

" Brig. Gen. Paterson." 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



252 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1782 To tliis letter General Paterson replied on the 25th : 

" West Point Jan 25 1782 
" Dear Sir 

'' I have received your favor of j'esterday. The alarm posts are not 
conformable to my sentiments — but as you have intimated your inten- 
tions of giving your ideas on the subject, I shall make no alteration 
till then. 

'• The large quantities of salt provisions in the magazine, whicli is 
to be delivered the Contractors as soon as it can be repacked and 
weighed, I am apprehensive is in a bad state, and the longer the mat- 
ter is delayed, will be growing worse. I beg leave to recommend Mr. 
Frost late Commissary to my brigade, now waiting to have his ac- 
counts settled, as a faithful pei-son, suitable to oversee and would wil- 
lingly overtake the business if he can be secured of his pay. If you 
approve of Mr. Frost please signify the conditions and I will propose 
the matter to him. There is a quantity of salt shad which the con- 
tractor thinks ought to be issued before the time of fresh fish. He 
having no such article in his contract, wishes to know how it shall be 
issued, to make it equivalent to the allowance of beef. If this should 
be delayed he would think himself under no obligation to take the fish, 
the public would of consequence lose it. 

" I have nominated Major Maxwell on the part of this garrison for 
adjusting the disputes between the contractors and the Army agreable 
to your order. 

" Capt. Larned of the 4th Mass. regiment is at Verplank's and Cap- 
tain Pierce of the 8th regiment at Stoney points. 

" I have so much business on hand I cannot tend to the affairs of 
Mr. Stratton which I find to be an intricate matter, without neglecting 
my duty, for which reason I wish you would excuse me. The settle- 
ment of the subaltern rank is not yet completed which claims the 
whole of my leisure hours. 

" I am my Dear Sir with much respect 

' ' your most obedient Servant 

"John Paterson.* 

" Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath." 

To this letter General Heath replied on the 25th : 

" Head Quarters Highlands Jan 25 1782 
'•' Dear Sir, 

" Yours of this date is just come to hand. I will give you my 
sentiments respecting the alarm posts the moment I can find time to 
commit them to paper, in the mean time will thank you for informa- 
tion whether the 1st Brigade wliich you say was to be held in reserve 

* Massachusetts Historical Societj', Boston. 



ORDERS AT WEST POINT. 253 

was directed to be on their own parade or at any particular place where 1783 
they were to receive orders. 

" As the late commissaries department are to deliver over the latter 
provisions to the contractors and take duplicate receipts therefor they 
will of course attend to the business until it is finished, I will write 
Mr. Stevens on the subject. I have the highest opinion of Mr. Frost 
but cannot assure him pay or engage him in service which I suppose 
Mr. Stevens is attending to. 

" Mr. Sands will be here to morrow. I will mention the matter of 
the Shad, they had best be issued. 

" I will consider Strattons case being referred to another Board. 
' ' I am with great regards 
"Dear Sir, 

" Your obedt Servt 

" W. Heath.* 
"Brig. Gen. Paterson." 

On February 3d General Paterson wrote to General Heath : 

" West Point Feb. 3rd 1782. 
" Sir. 

"As Col. Pickering has not furnished us with candles, I have 
been necessitated to give orders on the contractors for supplying the 
Provost and other guards : but there being no regulations for such a 
measure, I shall discontinue it and wait your directions. 

" I beg leave to observe that the Provost magazine guards are of so 
much importance, tliat a failure in that article may be attended with 
serious consequences. 

" I am. Sir, with respect and esteem 

' ' your most obedt Servt 

"John Paterson. f 
" Hon. MGeni Heath." 

On February 8d the officers assembled at West Point pro- 
posed to send by Capt. Haywood a petition to Congress relat- 
ing to the settlement of their arrears of pay which had been 

promised them : 

" West PoIxNT, Feb. 3, 1782. 

" Sir : The officers of the Massachusetts line having made choice of 
Captain Heywood to go to Philadelphia with their memorial, I wish 
you to take the trouble of informing the commanding officers of the 
several regiments imder your command that it is necessary they send 
to Capt. Heywood as soon as possible, the sum (ten Dollars) which was 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 
t Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



254 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1782 voted, at a former meeting of the officers, to be advanced for defray- 
ing his expenses. 

" I am, sir, your most obedt Servt 

"John Paterson.* 
" Colonel H. Jackson." 

Of this action a committee, of which General Paterson was 
one, wrote to General Heath : 

" West Point Feb. 5. 1783. 
"Sir. 

" The officers of the Massachusetts line have the honor to in- 
form you that they have prepared an address to Congress, on the sub- 
ject of procuring a settlement of all arrears due to the line up to the 
thirty first of December 1781, a copy of which will be shewn you by 
Captain Hey wood, who is appointed to join B. General Knox to present 
the same to Congress, which they hope will meet your approbation and 
support. 

' ' We have the honor to be 

" Sir, with the highest respect 
" your most obedient 
" humble Servants 

"John Paterson B Geni 
" RuFus Putnam Colo 
" John Crane Col? f 
" Hon. M Geni Heath." 

On Februar}^ 5th General Paterson wrote again to General 

Heath : 

" West Point Feb. 5 1783 
" Sir, 

' ' The following is a disposition of the regiments at the alarm posts, 
of this garrison — viz — 

" First Mass. regiment assigned to Redoubts, No 1 & 2. — Seventh 
No 3 & 4. — fourth as a reserve to parade on the height in the road lead- 
ing from No 2 to 3. 

" Eighth Regiment, Forts Putnam, Wyllys & Webb, second Fort 
Clinton — fifth to repair to the parade in front of the long Barrack as a 
reserve. 

" I have sent herewith a Return of Ordnance etc. of the posts un- 
der my command. I wish you would please to order a proportionable 
quantity of small arms, accoutrements, and ammunition set off to the 
commanding officer of artilleiy who will receipt for them on your 
order, and can daily issue them if called for, thereby securing the post 

* From the collection of Chas. Roberts, Esq. , of Philadelphia, Pa. 
t Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 



ORDERS AT WEST POINT. 255 

from accidents which a deficiency of this nature might subject tliem 1782 

to. As recruits will be daily coming small arms will be wanted by 

ones, twos & threes — a number assigned for this garrison will not only 

prevent much trouble to you, but perhaps a neglect wliich too often 

happens, when arms are at a gx*eat distance, of leaving members in a 

regiment for some time without arms : 

" I am Sir, with the highest regards 

" your most obedient Servant, 

"John Paterson.* 
" Hon. M Genl. Heath." 

To this letter General Heath replied : 

" Head Quarters Highlands Feb. 5th 1782 
"Dear Sir. 

" Your favor of this date with a return of ordnance and ord- 
nance stores etc. is come to hand. I think your distribution of the 
Troops a good one. I shall direct Colo Crane to see that there is a 
proper arrangement of the necessary stores for Fort Clinton. 

" Army accoutrements or ammunition cannot be set off to the com- 
mandant for the purpose of issuing to recruits etc. it is totally inad- 
missable, is not to be done but strictly conformable to the rules and 
orders heretofore preserved and published I shall never think it a 
trouble to attend to those matters which are my duty. — and if the Com- 
mander in Chief thought it proper on the 5tli of May last when I was 
quartered on West Point and had command not only of the Troops 
quartered there but of the whole cantoned in the Highlands that no 
arms or accoutrements should be delivered untill the returns were car- 
ried seven miles to be Countersigned and Registered by the Adjutant 
Genl- no person can suppose it to be a hardship to come to my quarters 
when situated in the Bowels of the Post. 

" I am with very great regard, 
" Dear Sir, 

" Your obed. serv't 

" W. Heath f 
" Brig. Gen. Paterson." 

On February 5, 1782, Greneral Paterson, as one of a com- 
mittee, forwarded the following memorial to Congress : 

" To the United States in Congress assembled the memorial and peti- 
tion of the officers of the Massachusetts line of the army humbly 
sheiveth, 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 
f Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



256 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON 

1783 "Tliat the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, agreeable to the rec- 
ommendations of Congress has settled with their line and adopted 
measures for the payments of all arrears due to them by reason of the 
depreciation of the currency from the first day of January one thou- 
sand seven hundred and seventy seven, to the thirty first of December 
one thousand seven hundred and eighty so far as it respects their 
monthly pay. 

" But with regard to such arrears as are due to the officers on ac- 
count of retained rations, or subsistence, and the non-commissioned 
officers and privates for deficiencies of cloathing, the Commonwealth 
has not, as yet, taken them into consideration ; it being considered as 
out of their power to liquidate those accounts, upon just principals, 
agreeable to the intentions of Congress ; as they are not furnished with 
the necessary accounts of cloathing delivered the non-commissioned 
officers and privates, or the advances of cloathing, and other supplies 
from continental stores to the officers, which are to be taken into con- 
sideration upon a final adjustment of their respective accounts, agree- 
able to a resolution of Congress of the tenth of April one thousand 
seven hundred and eight}'. 

" That there are other arrears, to a considerable amount of pay and 
subsistance, due to the said Une for their services in the year eighty 
one, which cannot be settled, as they conceive, by the Commonwealth, 
by means of the irregularity of advances to different corps and detach- 
ments, untill an adjustment of those accounts is first had in the Pay- 
office, and proper vouches of the amount, under continental authority 
furnished. 

"That the officers of the line consider it reasonable that they, as 
well as the citizens, should reap present benefit from their past ser- 
vices, and have it in their power, if occasion requires to negotiate with 
such sums as are due to them from the public. They therefore beg the 
attention of Congress to those arrears, that such a liquidation of their 
respective accounts may take place, and such measures adopted for 
paying the ballance to each individual as Congress in their wisdom & 
justice shall think tit. 

" That the officers of the said line further beg leave to inform Con- 
gress, that they have ever viewed with the highest satisfaction, their 
constant attention to the wants and distresses of the army, and have 
to atti'ibute only to the exigencies of want and the real want of re- 
sources, that they have not at all times experienced every convenience 
they could in justice expect. 

"That it is with gratitude they observe the liberal provision made 
for those who shall continue in service to the conclusion of the war, as 
well as the widows and orplians of those who unfortunately lose their 
lives in the service of their Country before that wished for period shall 
arrive. 



PETITION TO CONGRESS. 257 

" Impressed with a sense of the goodness of Congress, and consid- 1782 
ering that a just settlement of the aforementioned arrears cannot be 
had in any other way. as the accounts of all advances in behalf of the 
United States are in the hands of agents immediately under their direc- 
tion, the Massachusetts line have therefore thought proper to lay the 
matter before this honourable Body, not doubting they shall have every 
attention paid them, that their circumstances require, and as in duty 
bound shall ever pray. 

" John Paterson B. Geni 1 Committee 
" RuFUS Putnam Colo }■ of the officers 

" John Crane, Colo J of said line 

" West Point February 5. 1782 

" [Original Manuscript] [Sealed and addressed to] His Excellency 
John Hanson, Esquire 

" President of Congress 

" Philadelphia." * 

The same day the committee wrote to General Knox and 

Captain Haywood : 

" West Point February 5, 1782 
"Dear Sirs, 

" The subscribers have the honour to acquaint you, that at a meet- 
ing of the officers of the Massachusetts on the twenty first day of 
January instant, you were appointed to lay their memorial before 
Congress. 

" You are therefore desired to proceed to Philadelphia as soon as 
may be, and use your utmost endeavours with that honourable Body, 
that a mode may be adopted for a speedy liquidation of the accounts of 
allai'rears due to the line up to the 31 of December 1781, that the money 
or negotiable securities may be given for the ballance due to each indi- 
vidual respectively. 

" The members of Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
setts have been addressed on the subject of your appointment, it will 
therefore be expedient for you to lay j'our business before Congress 
through them, who we doubt not, will use their endeavours to give it a 
favourable reception. 

" It is also the wish of the officers of the line, that you would wait 
on the honourable Major-General Lincoln at Philadelphia with your 
appointment, and a copy of the memorial, as they are persuaded the 
distinguished abilities of that Gentleman, and the readiness he has ever 
shown to promote the just expectations of the line that his connexions 

* William Lincoln's " Manuscript History of the Revolution, 1774- 
1783," American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



258 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1782 and influence with the members of Congress in general will be of par- 
ticular advantage to you in accomplishing the important business of 
your appointment. 

*' We are Gentlemen, by order and 
" in behalf of the line 

' ' your most obedient servants 

" John Paterson B Geni 1 

" RuFus Putnam C0I9 > Committee 

" John Crane Colo J 

" Brigadier General Knox 
" Capt. Heywood 

" [Original Manuscript] [Sealed and addressed to] 

" Brig. General Knox, and Captain Heywood." * 

Tlie same day tliey wrote to the members of Congress from 

the State of Massachusetts : 

" West Point February 5, 1783. 
" Gentlemen, 

" It having been considered as impracticable for the Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts to conclude a settlement with their line of the army 
agreeable to the intentions of Congress, expressed in their resolves, so 
far as they respect deficiencies of officers retained rations, or subsist- 
ence, and the soldier s cloathing ; and as no particular mode of liquidat- 
ing those accounts is pointed out in the resolves, the officers of the 
Massachusetts line have, therefore, thought proper to petition that 
honourable Body on the subject. 

"They flatter themselves that the propriety of this measure will 
appear, when it is considered, that the difficulty of adjusting such 
complicated accounts is always enhanced in proportion to the period 
of time they have been outstanding, that unless they are taken up 
while there are persons in office, who were conversant in those ac- 
counts, it will necessarily be attended with much loss of time and 
expense to individuals, ever to have them properly adjusted, — not to 
mention the risque many persons run in keeping public papers on 
hand, which are necessary for their justification. 

"The irregularity of advances during the year eighty one, to par- 
ticular corps or detachments, rendering it extremely intricate, and 
perhaps impracticable for commanding officers of the standing regi- 
ments, to exhibit authentic accounts of those advances to the Com- 
monwealth, has induced the officers of their line, likewise to solicit 
the interposition of Congress, with regard to a settlement of their pay 

* William Lincoln's " Manuscript History of the Revolution, 1774- 
1783," American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



PETITION TO MASSACHUSETTS. 259 

during that time, as well as deficiencies of subsistence, and the soldiers 1782 
cloathing which they apprehend can be executed by Auditors acting 
under the direction of Congress, with much more despatch and less 
expense both to the public and individuals, than in any other way. 

" From the above reasons we doubt not. Gentlemen, you will be 
convinced of the expediency of this mode of settlement for the year 
eighty one rather than that adopted by the State in their resolve of 
the first day of October 1779 — Tliough at the same time, the line have 
to acknowledge the constant attention of the Commonwealth, to the 
wants and distresses of their army and the reiterated efforts, they 
have ever made to fulfill every engagement. 

" We flatter ourselves that the influence of the distinguished char- 
acters, who represent the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in Con- 
gress, will do much in promoting the wishes of the line and flnally 
bring the matter to a favourite issue. 

" We beg leave. Gentlemen, to refer you to Brig. General Knox 
and Captain Heywood who are appointed by the officers of the linei 
through you to present their memorial to Congress, for such further 
information as may be necessary. 

" We have the honour to be, Gentlemen, 
" with the highest respect in behalf 

" of the officers of the line, your most 
" obedient humble servants 
" HonWe Members of Con- " John Paterson B Geni ) 

gress from the State of " RuFUS Putnam Colo V Committee. 
Massachusetts ' ' John Crane Colo ^ 

" [Original manuscript.] 
" [Sealed and addressed], 

" The Members of Congress 

" from the Commonwealth 
"of Massachusetts 

" Philadelphia." * 

On February 8th the following garrison orders were issued : 

" Head Quarters, Highlands Feb. 8th 1782 
" The General has lately received the revision of the rank of the 
Captains in the Massachusetts Line, reported sometime since to the 
Commander in Chief, by a Board of General and Field officers. 

" Many alterations have been Occasioned since by the promotion of 
some Captains to Field Officers, the Deaths and Resignations of others, 
the Promotions of some to Captaincy's which renders the arrangement 
incomplete, — 

* William Lincoln's " Manuscript History of the Revolution, 1774- 
1783," American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



260 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 "Brigadier General Paterson, with the Field Officers commanding 
Regiments in the Massachusetts line, are hereby appointed a Board for 
the completing said arrangement as soon as possible & make Report." * 

On February 19tli Washington wrote to Major-General 

Heath : 

" Philadelphia, 19tb Feb., 1782. 
" To Major-General Heath. 

" Dear Sir,— Yesterday's post brought me your two letters of the 
8th and 13th instant, with a note of General Paterson's enclosed." f 

On February 25th General Paterson wrote to General 

Heath ; 

" West Point Feb. 21, 1782 
" Sir, 

" There are a no. of pieces of Cannon in redoubts No 1 & 2, which 
never were proved, and by representations made to me I fear they will 
fail us upon trial. If you have no objection I will direct the Com- 
manding Officer of Artillery to prove such as he may think will 
need it. 

" The commanding officer of artillery for this garrison finds it im- 
possible to do his duty without permission to keep a horse, having fre- 
quently occasion to go to Verplanks and Stoney Points as well as the 
other different Forts and redoubts, which in this season of the year, I 
am sensible must be difficult, unless the request can be granted. 
" I am sir with respect & esteem 

" your obedient Servant 

"John Paterson. t 
"Maj. Gen. Heath." 

On March 5th General Paterson wrote to General Heath : 

" West Point Mar 5 1783 
" Sir. 

" The Provost is exceedingly crowded with prisoners and eight or 
nine have got the small pox the natural way. Dr. Eustis has repre- 
sented to me, that their situation is dangerous and thinks it necessary 
they should be removed from amongst the other Prisoners immedi- 
ately, for fear they should occasion a contagion which would be dan- 
gerous to the garrison — I have made every exertion in my power to 
have them removed to some convenient place here, but find it utterly 
impossible at present, every Hutt being filled, either with soldiers or 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 

f Massachusetts Historical Collection, vol. iv., fifth series. 

1 Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



AFFAIRS AT WEST POINT. 261 

Artificers — I submit it to you whether it would not be best to have 1782 

them removed to some convenient place on the east side of the River. 

" Peter la Gaumsee a very good honest man, formerly an officer in 

our service, to my knowledge took an early and decisive part in Canada 

under Gen. Montgomery, and when the British arrived at Montreal 

the place of his residence, was obliged to leave his all, and retreat with 

the army — he has served as a Baker in the Garrison for some time past, 

but is now out of employ. I would ask, whether he is not a proper 

object to be indulged in to draw provision — If you think he is, beg 

you will please to give an order. 

" I am Sir 

" with great regard 

" your obed. Servant 

"John Paterson.* 
" Maj. Gen. Heath." 

On March 12th Washington wrote to Major-General 
Heath : 

" Philadelphia, 12th March, 1782. 
" To Major-General Heath. 

" Dear Sir, — General Paterson's information respecting the Indian 
chief is yet so vague that there is no coming to any determination 
upon it. He may desire his friend to prosecute the inquiry ; and, if 
he finds there are good grounds to believe the Indian sincere, measures 
may be taken to bi'ing him over."" f 

On March 19th Greueral Paterson wrote to General Heath : 

" West Point, 19th Mar. 1782 
" Sir, 

" Enclosed is a report of the men and materials so necessary to 
refit Fort Putnam. 

"To morrow morning I shall send as many fatigue men as the 
garrison will admit to lay up the Breach, until such time as the 
materials etc can be procured. 

"I beg you'l write me upon the subject and give me some direc- 
tions or it will be impossible for me to turn the number of men on the 
side which will be necessary — 

I am Sir 

Your obedt Servant 

"John Paterson. J 
"Maj. Gen. Heath." 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 

t Massachusetts Historical Collection, vol. iv., fifth series. 

X Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



262 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1782 On March 19th General Paterson wrote again to General 
Heath : 

" West Point, 19th March, 1782 
"Sir 

" Yesterday afternoon two of the Prisoners of war were sent under 
the care of two sentinals for water, after they had filled their keg, 
one of them pretended he wanted to ease himself, the sentinal con- 
ducted him to a proper place, the prisoner watched his opportunity 
and ran off, the sentinal fired but missed him ; the other which was 
left at the spring knocked the sentinal with him down and made his 
escape likewise, the sentinals apprehending they would be punished 
when they returned, remained at the spring until it was dark, which 
prevented the officer from sending a party after them, as he would 
have done had he known of it sooner, however, I have three several 
parties out this day and am in hopes they will come across them. 
" I am Sir 

" with very great regard 

" Your obedient Servant 

" John Paterson.* 
"Maj. Gen. Heath." 

On March 26th General Paterson wrote to General Heath 

to intercede for an officer in distress. This letter shows not 

only his kindly disposition, but also the care he took to try 

and see misery relieved. 

" West Point Mar. 26 1782. 
" Sir, 

" Humanity obliges me to intercede with you for the distressed 
Lieut Greene, he was burned out of Giiarlestown and lost everything 
he and his family had, but the cloaths they had on their backs, since 
that time he has been in the service, and by the industry of his wife 
and his own prudent savings he has only been able to continue them 
in existance, he has in every instance (except this one) behaved Uke a 
steady, prudent and courageous man and has the universal esteem 
of his officers — his being so long absent was most certainly occasioned 
by failure of public payments, he not being able to provide the least 
article for his family before he received his money. This being the 
case I think it is a debt we owe to the distressed arising from preserv- 
ing Virtue in publicly exposing and fighting for the cause of his country 
to assist him ; this appears more so to me when I consider the cruel 
act of the assembly by which they at once cancel their debt, when 

* Massachusetts Historical Society. 



ORDEES FROM GENERAL WASHINGTON. 263 

they were the sole cause of his disgrace — I therefore wish to be con- 1782 
sidered as one who is interested for him. 

" I am 
"Sir 

" With great regard, 

" Your obedient Servant 
" John Paterson.* 
" Maj. Gen. Heath." 

On March 26th General Paterson wrote to General Heath 

in respect to Captain Bowman : 

" West Point 36th March 1782 
"Sir. 

" I communicated my sentiments respecting the restoration of Cap- 
tain Bowman to Colonel Putnam expecting they would be sent to 
Head Quarters, but he desires me to write in particular to you on the 
subject. 

"I have no objection to his being again admitted into the line, 
being fully sensible his fault arose from a sudden gust of Passion, not 
from a desire to abuse either Mr Sands or me, or to do injury to the 
service. 

" I believe he is convinced and will have a particular guard over 
himself in future 

"I am sir, 

" Your obedt. Servt. 

"John Paterson. f 
" Maj. Gen. Heath." 

On March 28th General Heath transmitted Washington's 

orders to General Paterson : 

" Headquarters Hiohlands Mar 28, 1782 
" 2 oclockp.M. 
" Dear Sir, 

" I have this moment received a letter from his Excellency General 
Washington in which he expresses himself as follows ' I am on my 
way to the north River and shall pass thro' the Clove the last of this 
week, I wish you therefore to detach a Captain & 50 men so as that 
they may be on Fryday night next (that is on the night of the twenty 
ninth Inst.) at Gallaways or some other farm house near to that place 
where the new road from Ridgewood forms the Junction with the 
Smiths, Clove road, it will be best for the party to be supplied with 
three or four days provisions lest bad weather or accident should pre- 
vent my coming forward so soon as I propose, the officer will remain 
there until he hears from me. 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 
f Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



264 • LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 " ' P. S. If the party cannot get to the place of destination by 
Fryday niglit they should at all events be there by Saturday morning.' 
"As it will be impossible to detail a guard from the whole of the 
troops. You will please to order a Captain and fifty men detached 
immediately from the Two Brigades on your side let them be fur- 
nished with four days provisions and march this evening please give 
the Captain a copy of the Generals letter as to the place where and 
time when he must reach it. Please order the guard to be composed 
of trusty good men and I beg my dear Sir that not a moment may be 
lost in forwarding them, some one should perfectly know the road 

and place referred to. 

'• I am with great regard, 
' ' Dear Sir 

" Your humble Servt 

" W. Heath.* 
" General Paterson." 

To this letter General Paterson replied : 

" West Point 29th March. 1782. f 
"Sir 

"Your letters of yesterday I received, the party for the Clove 
marched last evening under the command of Capt. Trotter, the gun- 
boat is now almost full of water, I should have had it upraised before 
this time but had no oakum, I have this morning ordered McCarthy 
to refit her as soon as possible — The bearer is one of the boats crew now 
going to Kingsferry, with the Instruction and orders you directed. 

" I shall pay particular attention to the Forts in this garrison and 
wish to have your direction respecting the quantity of Provision that 
will be necessary in each Redoubt Mr. Sands refuses to be account- 
able for any that shall be kept in them or rather does not choose to 
take it of the Commissary while there — the upper Redoubts having no 
place to secure small ammunition they all being very small and a 
number of the fire places in the Barracks being built in them, it was 
thought advisable to return the greatest part in before I had the Com- 
mand, the same reason still exists but if you think it best I will order 
it returned, I wish also j'our instructions, how many days Provision 
will be necessary to be kept at Stoney and Verplanks points — 
' ' I am 

" Sir 

" With the Highest Esteem 

" Your obt. Servt. 

" John Paterson. 
" Maj. Gen. Heath." 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 
f Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



DEFENSES OF THE RIVER. 265 

On April 7tli General Paterson was a member of the court- 1783 
martial to try Major-General McDougall. 

On April 7tli, the following garrison order was issued : 

" Head Quarters Newburgh Sunday 7th April, 1782. 
" As soon as the gun boat is refitted she is to be manned and take a 
Station in the river opposite the guard at Fort Montgomery. Genl- 
Paterson will please to have it done, after which no vessel or boat is to 
pass down the river between sunsetting and rising without permission 
in writing." * 

On April 8tli the following order was issued : 

" Three men from each brigade to parade to morrow morning with 
arms and accoutrements at general Patersons quarters they are to be 
stationed in the gun boat near fort Montgomery." f 

On April 17th Washington wrote to Major-General Heath : 

"Headquarters, Newburgh, 
April 17, 1782. 
" To Major-General Heath. 

" Dear Sir, — The inclosed list of queries I transmit for your con- 
sideration, and beg to have your observations thereon as soon as may 
be convenient. An early period will be most agreeable, as it is impos- 
sible for me to say how soon I may be obliged to make use of them. 
You will be pleased to communicate the same to Major-General Howe 
and Brigadier-General Paterson, that I may also be favored with 
their opinions on the subject. Let me add also, Baron De Steuben, 
who, I believe, is at West Point. I have not yet seen the contract for the 
moving army, but am told by the gentlemen concerned that the places 
for the deposit of magazines are to be determined by me, as also what 
are to be deemed the Dependencies of West Point. That I may be en- 
abled to decide on these two points, I shall be much obliged by your 
opinion, and that of the general officers above mentioned. In giving 
your sentiments on the former, many contingencies of the campaign 
are to be taken into consideration. The latter may be ascertained 
with precision. 

" I am, dear sir, with very great regard, 

" Your most obedient servant, 

" Go Washington." X 

On April 22d General Paterson wrote to General Heath : 

♦American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 
f American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 
t Massachusetts Historical Collection, vol. iv., fifth series. 



266 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1782 " West Point 23 Apr. 1782.* 

"Sir 

"The quarter master of this garrison will want for the public 
works — Boat- Wrights — Black smiths — Carpenters and Coopers — for the 
present I think five of each will be sufficient. It is my opinion that 
Capt. Buchanan having the collecting and taking up the floating Boats, 
will want a crew to be ready with him, at least untill they are 

collected. 

" I am 

" Sir 

' ' with very great regard 

"your obedient Servant 

" Maj. Gen. Heath." " John Paterson. 

On April 23d Lord Stirling wrote to General Washington: 

"FiSHKiLL, April 23d 1782. 
"Dear Sir: 

" 1 have your letter of yesterday evening accompanying one 
from General Paterson on the subject of the Contract and Contractor, 
Comfort Sands. In Consequence of the letter you mention from 
His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief to General Heath, I do suppose 
some order has by this time issued, to which we must conform ourselves 
in our proceedings, but in whatever mode it is to be conducted, the 
officers of the army may be assured I shall give tliem the best assist- 
ance in my power in fairly stating their grievances, and in detecting the 
impositions of the contractor. Whoever is appointed to represent the 
officers on this occasion, should immediately possess themselves of a 
copy of the contract for without it they will be groping in the dark. 
General Heath has one, which I doubt not he will comniunicate. They 
should also possess themselves of every fact, wherein tlie contractor has 
deviated from the contract, or attempted it. With these materials, I 
doubt not their case may be fully and fairly stated, and redress of 
grievances be obtained. 

" Be pleased to present my compliments to General Paterson and 
communicate this to him, in answer to his letter in behalf of the 
officers. 

"I am, with much affection and esteem, your most obedient & most 
humble servt 

"Stirling."! 

On April 23d Major-General Heath ordered from New- 
burgh : 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 

\ " Writings of Washington," vol. x., pp. 17, 31. 



DEMAND FOR ARTIFICERS. 267 

"Brigadier General Paterson will please to order, a crew for one 1782 
boat from the two Brigades at West Point to assist Captain 
Buchanan in collecting the floating Boats — 

"The crew are to continue on this duty until the 4th of May next 
when they are to join their respective Corps." * 

On April 2-ltli Major-General Heath ordered : 

" Highlands April 24th 1782.* 
"Brigadier General Paterson having certified that the following 
artificers are absolutely necessarj^ to be employed by the Quarter 
Master at West Point, Viz five Carpenters, five boatwrights, five 
Coopers, and five blacksmiths. General Paterson wall please to furnish 
them accordingly from the two Brigades at West Point except one 
caulker from the 9th Masstts Regiment. The whole to remain with the 
Quarter Master untill the 15th of May next." f 

. From the Highlands, May 23d, Major-General Heath 
ordered : 

"The commanding Officers of Brigades will be pleased to direct 
their respective Quarter Masters with such Fatigue Men as may be 
necessary to cut and collect the timber to the landings, and Geni Pater- 
son will please to give such orders to the troops at West Point as may 
be requisite for conveying the timber, &c. to the place where it is 
wanted, and for compleating the business, the whole to be done with 
all possible Dispatch." X 

On April 28th, while General Paterson was at New York 
Huts, his brigade was reviewed by Washington and compli- 
mented in general orders. 

On May 15th General Paterson wrote to General Heath : 

" West Point May 15th 1782. 

" Sir 

" I beg you will be so oblidging as to give me an order for the Quar- 
ter master at Fishkill for sufficient canvass to make a back and bottom 
for my bed, leather to make a bridle and a sursingle to be charged to 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 
f American Antiquarian Society, W^orcester, Mass. 
X American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



268 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 my account — I shall not by this esteem myself under the least obliga- 
tion to the quarter master department, as they are indebted to me 
more than forty times as much. 
" I am, Sir 

" With great esteem 

" Your obed. Servt 

" John Paterson.* 
" Maj. Gen. Heath." 

On May 23d General Paterson and all officers commanding 
brigades were ordered to meet at Greneral Heath's headquar- 
ters at 1 P.M. On May 31st, at "West Point, the birth of the 
Dauphin of France was announced to the command with 
military honors. The orders were as follows : 

' ' The commander-in-chief announces the birth of a Dauphin of 
France. At 7.30 the feu-de-joie will commence with the discharge of 
thirteen pieces of cannon from the park, succeeded by fire of musketry 
from the infantry as follows : 2d Massachusetts Brigade, 1st Massa- 
chusetts Brigade, 1st Connecticut Brigade, 2d Connecticut Brigade, 
lOtli Massachusetts Regiment, 3d Massachusetts Brigade." 

For the purpose of making the occasion more joyous, Major 
Villefranche, a French engineei', had been employed with a 
thousand men about ten days in constructing a colonnade. It 
was 220 feet long and 80 feet wide. It had 118 pillars, made 
of the trunks of trees growing in that vicinity. The roof was 
made of branches intertwined. The ends and sides were open. 
The middle of each pillar was ornamented with muskets and 
bayonets, tastefully arranged. The whole interior was deco- 
rated with evergreens and flowers and emblematic devices, 
fleur-de-lis and ornaments significant of the French alliance, 
and mottoes proposing benediction on the Dauphin, and suc- 
cess and happiness to the two allied nations. The whole 
army was paraded on the hills on both sides of the river. 
This arbor was illuminated in the evening. There was a 
good dinner in the afternoon, and a dance and fireworks in 
the evening. 

On June 8, 1782, and again on June 10th at Newburgh, 
General Washington complimented the appearance and ma- 
* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



CHEVRON FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS BRIGADE. 



269 



neuvering of the Massachusetts brigade, and said he " never 1'782 
saw men in service make a more respectable appearance." 
On June 17, 1782, the following brigade orders were issued 
by General McDougall, who had been in command since 
December, 1781 : 

"The Hon. Brigadier-General Paterson having expressed his wish 
that some honorary mark of distinction should be worn by each non- 
commissioned officer or private in his brigade who had served in the 
army of the United States a certain length of time, and has also made 
a present of material for that purpose, therefore the commandant 
thinks proper to direct that each non-commissioned officer and private 
who has served four years in Continental regiments shall be entitled 
to wear one stripe of white tape on the left sleeve of his regimental 
coat. This stripe shall extend from seam to seam on the upper part of 
the sleeve three inches from and parallel with shoulder-seam, so that 
the tape may form a herring-bone figure." 

On June 12th the following table was issued from New- 
burgh to keep account of the detail of guards for June and 
July. 

" Detail of the Guards kept by the troops at West Point 13 June 1782, 
& 26 July 1782 * 



Guards 


C. 


S. 


S. 


c. 


D. 


F. 


privates 


Genl. Paterson 

















During the period 1782-3 and thereabout many military 
masonic lodges existed in the Revolutionary army, and in 
providing necessary conveniences for the troops, at that time 
in quarters on the Hudson near Newburgh, an assembly-room 
or hall was built, one of the purposes of which was to serve 
as a lodge-room for these military lodges. Washington him- 
self ordered the erection of the building, which was called 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



270 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN" PATERSON. 

1783 " The Temple of Virtue." The American Union Lodge 
met in this room on tlie 24tli of June, preparatory to cele- 
brating the festival of St. John the Baptist, and proceeded 
from thence to "West Point, where tliej were joined by Wash- 
ington Lodge. A procession was then formed at the house of 
General Paterson, its first master, and both lodges proceeded 
from thence to the " Colonnade," where a dinner was pro- 
vided and an oration delivered by Colonel John Brooks, 
master of Washington Lodge, and afterwards governor of 
Massachusetts. 

On July 9th General Paterson wrote to General Heath : 

" West Point 9tii July 1782 
" Sir. 

" The Infantry when on the line find the want of edge tools to 
cover themselves with bushes to shelter them from the Dews and 
scorching Sun — I would beg leave to suggest whether a certain num- 
ber of small Hatchetts to each company would not be convenient, 
they may be easily carried and can be provided at a very trifling ex- 
pense to the public If this should meet with j^our approbation I will 
take measures to procure as many as you think necessary to a com- 
pany on this side of the River. 

" I am with esteem your 
" obedt- Servt. 

" John Paterson.* 
" Maj. Gen. Heath." 

On the 22d of July General Paterson desired a furlough : 

" West Point 22 July 1782. 
"Sir 

" My business requires my particular attention for ten or twelve 
days, I must earnestly beg you to give me leave of absence dui'ing 
tliat time, if any thing should take place before the time expires I will 
immediately return to Camp. 

" I am with esteem 

" Your obedt. Servant 

' ' John Paterson. f 
" Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath." 

To which General Heath replied at once : 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 
f Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



FIRE AT WEST POINT. 271 

" Highlands, July 22nd 1782 1782 
"Dear Sir. 

" Yours of this date is handed me — I would gladly consent to your 
request, but I this instant am cautious of doing it — if the Commander 
in Chief did not arrive the last night he is expected every hour— im- 
mediately on his return he may have some arrangements to make and 
may disapprove my consenting to any general officer being absent at 
the moment of his return — as soon as I hear of his return I will lay 
your request before him, and endeavor to obtain for you the leave of 

absence you wish — 

" I am with great regard 

" Dear Sir 

" Your obedt Servt. 

" W. Heath.* 
" B. Gen. Paterson" 

On July 23d General Paterson wrote to General Heath : 

" West Point 23rd July 1782 
"Sir, 

" Enclosed is a letter from Major Villefranche to me respecting the 
Bowers of the Regiment of Artillery — I think the Magazine very much 
exposed by them, the season is so very hot and dry that the leaves will 
burn like powder, an instance of it happened yesterday in Col. Sprout's 
Regiment, his took fire and before it could be stopped, almost the 
whole of the clothing, tents, arms and accoutrements of one of his 
companies and part of another were consumed. I wish something 
might be in orders from you, as part of the artillery do not belong to 
and do not conceive themselves under my command. 

' ' I am with esteem 

"Your Obed't. 

" humble Serv't. 
" John Paterson. f 
" Hon Maj. Gen. Heath." 

General Heath replied the same day : 

" Highlands July 23rd 1782 
" Dear Sir 

" Your favor of this date having a report from the Engineer is 
handed to me. I have written to Col. Crane to remove the encamp- 
ment of the Regiment of Artillery immediately to such distance from 
the works as you the Engineer and he may think safe — I wish your 
particular attention to the matter and that no Troops be allowed to 
encamp so near to any of the works or Buildings as to endanger them 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 
t Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



272 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 in case of accident by Fire. This is a matter of Police within your own 
Jurisdiction and to which all troops must jneld obedience as the season 
is uncommonly dry, and Fort Clinton at this instant like a heap of 
Combustables — uncommon precautions are necessary to prevent acci- 
dent — your engine should be in readiness for instant use — I am with 
great regard 

" Dear Sir 

" Your obt Servant 

" W. Heath M. Gen."* 
" Gen. Paterson." 

On the 25th General Paterson wrote to General Heath : 

" West Point 25th July 1782 
•' Sir, 

"It is thought inconvenient for Capt. Haskell to do the duty of 
Deputy Adjutant General to the army and Garrison both, and it is 
wished by the officers in general on this side, to have one in particular 
appointed for the Garrison — if this should meet your approbation and 
you would be pleased to appoint Captain Cushing for that purpose 
while we stay on the Point, you will oblige him who is 

" with esteem 

" Your obed't. Sei'vant 

" John Paterson. f 
" Maj. Gen. Heath." 

The extreme necessities of the case caused General Paterson 
to write to General Heath on the 27th : 

" West Point 27th July 1782 
" Sir. 

" This is the third day since the troops in Garrison have been with- 
out meat except a few pounds of mutton delivered to the Regt. mount- 
ing Guard yesterday. Such a conduct, if the Contractors are not 
called to a severe account, will end in our total destruction. 

" I must in the most pressing manner beg that we may have leave 
to purchase for our immediate relief as has been practised in Jersey 
and the Contractors be made accountable. 

" The uneasiness of both officers and men have rose to a pitch that 
nothing will ease but immediate supply : they both look to j^ou as their 
Father and director at this critical time. 

" I am with esteem 

" Your obed. Servt. 

" John Paterson. X 
" Maj. Gen. Heath." 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 
f Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 
X Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



ARREST OF CAPT. HASKELL. 273 

On the 29th of July General Paterson ordered Captain 1*^82 

Haskell under arrest : 

" West Point 29th July 1782. 
" Sir. 

" You are hereby ordered in arrest. 1st for disobedience of orders 
and neglect of duty, in neglecting and refusing to publish to the Gar- 
rison of West Point an order of the Commandant on the 37th & 28th 
Instants. 2iidly For unofficerlike conduct in requesting a meeting of a 
number of Field officers at your Marque on the 27th instant and desiring 
the Commandant of this garrison there, and then and there representing 
to the Field Officers so assembled the conduct of the Commandant 
to be ungentlemanly and unofficerlike in a conversation contemptu- 
ous and disrespectful to the Commandant, among other things saying 
that the Commandant had no fixed principle or rule of conduct in 
command, that when you wished to see him he was straggling about 
the Garrison, that he was sneaking in his conduct, and that he had 
neglected to see his own orders put in execution. 

" You will conduct yourself accordingly untill released by proper 
authority. 

" John Paterson B. General 

" Commandant." 

" Captain Haskell." * 

In June, July, and August General Paterson was still at 
West Point. On August 29th he was at Newbui-gh. He had 
the 2d Massachusetts brigade (left wing), commanded by 
Major-General Heath. The division was under Major-General 
Howe. On the 31st of August the Massachusetts brigades 
and the Highland troops generally moved down by water to 
Verplanck's Point, on the east side of the river, and remained 
there until October. General Paterson was brigadier of the 
day on September 3d, 7th, 11th, 14th, 18th, October 15th and 
20th. While there the brigade was put into General Howe's 
division on the left wing under General Heath. In September 
and October he was at Verplanck's Point, busily engaged in 
drilling the troops and bringing them up to a high state of 
discipline. On October 28th the army broke up camp and 
went to New Windsor and Newburgh, encamping back of 
New Windsor, the encampment being called " the Newburgh 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



274 LIFE OF MAJOR-GEXERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1782 encampment " or " the New Windsor cantonment." On 
December 16th he and General Gates settled disputes about 
rank in the Connecticut line. General Paterson's brigade 
was encamped for the winter about one and a half miles west 
of New Windsor. He commanded the left wing of this en- 
campment. 

The following general orders were issued on August 29, 

1782: 

" Garrison Orders 29th August 1782. 

" Tlie Officers of the Second Regiment of Artillery and Corps of 
Sappers & Miners in this Garrison to form a Garrison Court Martial 
for the trial of Philip Francis of said Regiment & Peggy Martin. 
. . . Capt. Moody President, the Officers from the second Regt. one 
from the Corps of Sappers & Miners are to form the Court. 

" John Paterson, B. Geni " * 

In vol. ix., page 129, of the Knox MSS., is the finding of 
this court-martial, in which Peggy Martin was acquitted. 
She had been accused of stealing a " Massachusetts State 
Note of Six Pounds thirteen or fourteen shillings and some 
odd pence " from Mrs. Brown, wife of James Brown, sutler 
at Nelson's Point. Peggy was a washwoman about the camp 
and neighborhood. 

On the 2d of October General Washington wrote to the 
Secretary of War, representing, in plain terms, the distresses 
of the armj'", but no particular attention was paid to it at that 
time : 

"Headquarters, October 2, 1782. 
" My dear Sir: 

" Painful as the task is to describe the dark side of our affairs, it 
sometimes becomes a matter of indispensable necessity. Without dis- 
guise or palliation, I will inform you candidlj^of the discontents which 
at this moment prevail universally throughout the army. 

" The evils of which they complain, and which they suppose almost 
remediless, are the total want of money or the means of existing from 
one day to another, the heavy debt they have already incurred, the 
loss of credit, the distress of their families at home, and the prospect 
of poverty and miserj' before them. It is vain. sir. to suppose that 
military men will acquiesce contentedly with bare rations, when those 

* Knox MSS., vol. ix., p. 105. 



THE DISTEESS OF THE ARMY. 275 

in the civil walks of life, unacquainted witli half the hardships they 1782 
endure, are regularly paid the emoluments of office. While the human 
mind is influenced by the same passions and incUnations this cannot 
be. The military man has the same turn for sociability as a person in 
civil life. He conceives himself equally called upon to live up to his 
rank, and pride is hurt when circumstances restrain him. Onh* con- 
ceive then the mortification thej' must suffer (even the general officers) 
when they cannot invite a French officer, a visiting friend or a travel- 
ing acquaintance, to a better repast than bad whisky (and not always 
that) and a bit of beef, without vegetables, will afford them ! 

" The officers also complain of the hardships which they think might 
and ought to be remedied without delay : such as the stopping of pro- 
motions when there have been vacancies for a long time, the withhold- 
ing of commissions from those who are justly entitled to them, and 
have warrants or certificates of their appointments from the executives 
of their states ; and particularly the leaving of the compensation for 
their services in a loose, equivocal state, without ascertaining their 
claims upon the public or making provisions for the future payment 
of them. 

" While I premise that no one I have seen or heard of appears op- 
posed to the principle of reducing the army as circumstances may 
require, yet I can not help fearing the result of the measure in con- 
templation, under present circumstances, when I see such a number 
of men goaded by a thousand stings of reflection on the past and of 
anticipations of the future about to be turned into the world soured 
by penury and what they call the ingratitude of the public, involved 
in debts, without one farthing of monej' to carrj' them home after 
having spent the flower of their days, and many of them their patri- 
monies, in estaljlishing the freedom and independence of their country, 
and suffering everything that human nature is capable of endui-ing this 
side of death ; I repeat it, that when I consider these irritating circum- 
stances, without one thing to sootlie their feelings or dispel the gloomy 
prospects, I cannot avoid apprehending that a train of evils will follow 
of a very serious and disturbing nature. On the other hand, could the 
officers be placed in as good situation as when they came into service, 
the contention I am persuaded would be, not who should continue in 
tiie field, but who should return to private life. 

• ' I wish not to heighten the shades of the picture so far as the reality 
would justif J' me in doing it. I could give anecdotes of patriotism and 
distress which have scarcely ever been paralleled, never sui-passed. in 
the historj' of mankind. But you maj' rely upon it, the patience and 
long suffering of this army are almost exhausted, and that there never 
was so great a spirit of discontent as at this instant. While in the field 
I think it may be kept from breaking out into acts of outrage, but 
when we retire into winter quarters, unless the storm is previously 



276 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1782 dissipated, I cannot be at ease respecting the consequences. It is high 
time for a peace. 

" To you, my dear sir, I need not be more particular in describing my 
anxiety and the grounds of it. You are too well acquainted, from jour 
own service, with the real sufferings of the army, to require a longer 
detail. I will therefore only add that, exclusive of the common hard- 
ships of a military life, our troops have been and still are obliged to 
perform more services foreign to their proper duty, without gratuity 
or reward, than the soldiers of any other army. For example, the 
immense labor expended in doing the duty of the artificers in erecting 
fortifications and military works ; the fatigue of building for them- 
selves barracks or huts annually, and of cutting and transporting 
wood for the use of all our forts and garrisons, without any expense 
whatever to the public. 

" Of this letter, which, from the tenor of it, must be considered in 
some degree of a private nature, you may make such use as you shall 
think proper, since the principal objects of it are, by displaying the 
merits, the hardships, the disposition, and critical state of the army, 
to give information that may eventually be useful, and to convince 
you with what entire confidence and esteem I am, dear sir, etc." * 

The following orders were given on October 30th : 

" Left Wing Orders. 

" Belknap House OctoF 30th 1782. 
" Brigadier General Paterson with the Colonels and Lieutenant 
Colonels Commandant of the Massachusetts Line, are requested to 
meet at Major General Heath's Quarters, tomorrow 4 o'clock p.m. "f 

The following orders were issued on November 9th : 

" Head Quarters Newburgh 9th Nov. 1782. 
" Parole Andover ^ Signs ] gf^^^^i^^^ 

" Brigadier general Paterson, colonels Graton, and Shepard, will 
be pleased to meet at general Patersons marque to-morrow morning 
at 10 o'clock, in order to settle a dispute of rank between ensigns 
Sawyer, and Frye, of the Massachusetts line ; they will report their 
opinion to the commander-in-chief : the parties with their witness's 
will attend. 

' ' The board will make particular inquiry into the circumstances of 
Mr Sawyers allegation of Mr Fryes having taken a bounty as a conti- 
nental soldier after the date of his appointment as an ensign ; and re- 
port as above." X 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 

f •' Life of Manasseh Cutler," vol. i., p. 149. 

X American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS. 277 

On November 16tli the followiug notice was sent out: n':J2 

" The Officers of the Massachusetts Line having a grievance, on the 
16th of Nov. 1782 chose the following named to consider the same. 
Major General Knox, 
Brig. General Paterson, 
Colonel Greaton, 
Colonel Crane, 
Colonel Brooks, 
Lt. Colonel Maxwell, 

Doctor TOWNSEND. 

This Committee to meet Nov. 20th 1782." * 

On the 17th of October, 1782, the fourth anniversary of 
Burgoyne's surrender, Cornwallis, at Yorktown, hoisted the 
white flag. On the 19th, Cornwallis's army, 7247 in num- 
ber, with 840 seamen with colors furled and the bands play- 
ing the tune of the old song, The World Turned Upside Down, 
surrendered. On this day Sir Henry Clinton, having received 
naval reinforcements, set sail from New York with twenty- 
five ships of the line and 7000 picked troops. He arrived on 
the 24th at the mouth of the Chesapeake, too late, as he had 
been when he attempted to relieve Burgoyne. As in that case, 
if he had started a little earlier the result would probably 
have been very different. 

The surrender of Cornwallis was a fatal blow to the British. 
The complete abandonment of their pretensions could be the 
only result of it, but this prospect was regarded differently by 
the three parties engaged. The news of it reached London 
on the 25th of November, and was a great encouragement to 
the agitators in Ireland, but it resulted in the overthrow of 
the English ministry. No one but the king thought of pur- . 
suing the war, but finding it impossible to gain any support in 
Parliament, in the bitterest humiliation he consented to the 
change in the ministry. Lord North is reported to have said 
that he never told a greater lie in his life than when he an- 
nounced to Parliament that " his Majesty had been pleased to 
appoint " them. The king tried to make the peace contingent 

* Knox MSS. Papers, vol. x., p. 101. The report is given in full on 
page 278. 



278 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1782 on peace with France, but Parliament declared it to be " un- 
qualified and irrevocable." The king of France heard the 
news with both surprise and disgust. Marie Antoinette was 
conciliated by the assurance that the peace was attained on 
the most advantageous conditions. She was assured that the 
English, by conceding everything that the Americans had 
demanded, had bought peace rather than made it. By the 
Americans in general it was received with great joy, but no 
one foresaw the great country that was to be the result of it. 
It was not until later that the officers and men of the army 
realized what different responsibilities they had to face in the 
new life before them. 

In the North they did not have so much cause for re- 
joicing. The " duty and service " of the army there were in- 
action and to watch. They did it well, for much that might 
have happened was prevented by their sharp lookout. Every 
officer knew that to be assigned a position in the North was 
to be certain of inaction, but they also knew that it was a post 
which implied great trust in them, and we now know how 
well such positions were filled. 

On November 18th the board appointed on November 9th 
reported as follows : 

' ' Head Quarters Newburgh 18th Novr 83. 

" The board appointed to settle a dispute of rank between Ensigns 
Sawj'er, and Frye, of the Massachusetts Line, whereof Brigadier gen- 
eral Paterson was president report, that it appears that Mr Frye, was 
returned and receipted for as a recruit for the town of Andover, but 
that his being returned was without his knowledge, and his being re- 
ceipted for was conti-ary to his consent — It does not appear that he 
ever enlisted, or took a bounty ; the board are therefore of opinion 
that Mr Frye, is entitled to his rank from the date of his warrant. 

" The commander-in-chief approves the opinion of the board." * 

On November 30, 1782, the independence of the colonies 
was acknowledged by Great Britain by the signing of the 
preliminajy treaty of peace in Paris. 

On December 1st the following orders were issued : 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



GEN. PATERSONS LETTER TO COL. PUTXAM. 279 

" Head Quarters, Newburgh 1st Deer 1782. 1783 

" Brigadier general Paterson, is appointed to the command of the 
1st Masstts Brigade : the other brigades in that line are to be com- 
manded by the senior colonel in each." * 

On December 1st General Paterson wrote to Colonel Put- 
nam in relation to his proposed resignation from the army : 

" Camp New Windsor, December 1st, 1783. 
" Dear Sir :— 

" Your favor of tlie 25th ultimo, by Colonel Brooks, was duely re- 
ceived, and altho I can conceive the situation and disagreeable cir- 
cumstances of your family, occasioned by your continuance in the 
army, yet I cannot but regret your resolutions to retire, and hope that 
on the receipt of this, with the enclosure, you will alter your deter- 
minations. 

"Your letters on the subject of retiring have been handed to the 
Commander in Chief, but as they were not addressed to hira (and 
prior to the receipt of them the resolve of Congress enclosed, arrived) 
it is impossible that you can be deranged, except by taking the steps 
pointed out in the resolution, &c. particularly when you are informed 
that on the 29th ultimo, our friend Colonel Shepard resigned, and in a 
few days proposes to leave camp. This procedure of his, was in con- 
sequence of his being disappointed in his expectations of preferment. 

"You will be considered an officer in the line until we receive 
further directions from the Commander in Chief. The sooner you 
signify your wishes, &c. the better, for it is supposed that if you per- 
sist in your first resolutions, that Lt. Colo. Smith, who has gone home, 
will be called again, to re-assume his former command. 

" Colo. Shepard's retii'ing, by permission of his Excy, you '11 per- 
ceive gives Colo. Brooks his regiment again — & leaves a vacancy, 
(unless you return) which cannot be filled, at best, not till after the 
first January next, — vide the resolve of Congress, date 20th november, 
1782. 

" I dare say you will find no difficulty in obtaining leave of absence 
for the winter, as Lt. Colo. Newhall and Major Ashley were both at 
home the last year. 

" General Washington. I suppose, will write you by this convey- 
ance, and Colo. Brooks also. 

' ' I cannot supply j^ou with any intelligence — only the enemy in 
New York seem to be very busy ; persons who know more of their 
movements than me, think an evacuation of that city not far off. 

* American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



280 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 " Our hutts, which are allowed on all hands to be the best erected 
this war, will be ready for the reception of the men in a week. 

" I am, dear Colonel, with the most sincere esteem and unalterable 
regard, 

" your friend and humble servant, 

"J. Paterson." 
"Colo Putnam." 

The distress of the army had now become so great, partly 
from the depreciation of the currency, partly from the want 
of supplies, partly from the neglect of prompt payment of the 
officers and soldiers, that in December Gen. Paterson, with 
others, sent a strong appeal to Congress for a proper relief for 
the army. 

"Cantonments on the Hudson River, December, 1782. 
*'To the United States in Congress assembled : 

" The address and petition of the officers of the Army of the United 
States Humbly Sheweth 

" That we, the officers of the army of the United States, in behalf of our- 
selves and our brethren the soldiers, beg leave, with all proper deference 
and respect, freely to state to Congress, the supreme power of the United 
States, the great distress under which we labour. 

"At this period of the war it is with peculiar pain we find ourselves eon- 
strained to address your august body, on matters of a pecuniary nature. 
We have struggled with our difficulties, year after year, under the hopes 
that each would be the last ; but we have been disappointed. We find 
our embarrassments thicken so fast, and have become so complex, that 
many of us are unable to go further. lu this exigence we apply to Con- 
gress for relief as our head and sovereign. 

" To prove that our hardships are exceedingly disproportionate to those 
of any other citizens of America, let a recurrence be had to the paymas- 
ter's accounts, for four years past. If to this it should be objected, that 
the respective States have made settlements and given securities for the 
pay due, for part of that time, let the present value of those nominal 
obligations be ascertained by the monied men, and they will be found to 
be worth little indeed ; and yet, trifling as they are, many have been 
under the sad necessity of parting with them, to prevent their families 
from actually starving. 

" We complain that shadows have been offered to us while the sub- 
stance has been gleaned by others. 

" Our situation compels us to search for the cause of our extreme pov- 
erty. The citizens murmur at the greatness of their taxes, and are aston- 



PETITION TO CONGRESS. 281 

ished that no part reaches the army. The numerous demands, which are 1782 
between the first collectors and the soldiers, swallow up the whole. 

" Our distresses are now brought to a point. We have borne all that 
men can bear — our property is expended — our private resources are at an 
end, aud our friends are wearied out and disgusted with our incessant 
applications. We, therefore, most seriously and earnestly beg that a 
supply of money may be forwarded to the army as soon as possible. The 
uneasiness of the soldiers for want of pay, is great and dangerous ; any 
further experiments on their patience may have fatal effects. 

" The promised subsistence or ration of provisions consisted of certain 
articles specified in kind and quantity. The ration, without regard, that 
we can conceive, to the health of the troops, has been frequently altered, 
as necessity or conveniency suggested, generally losing by the change 
some part of its substance. On an average, not more than seven or eight 
tenths have been issued. The retained parts were, for a short time, paid 
for ; but the business became troublesome to those who were to execute it. 
For this or some other reasons, all regard to the dues, as they respected 
the soldiers, has been discontinued (now and then a trifling gratuity ex- 
cepted). As these dues respected the officers, they were compensated 
during one year, and part of another, by an extra ration ; as to the re- 
tained rations, the account for several years remains xmsettled ; there is a 
large balance due upon it, and a considerable sum for that of forage. 

" The clothing was another part of the soldiers' hire. The arrearages 
on that score, for the year 1777, were paid off in continental money, 
when the dollar was worth about fourpence ; the arrearages for the fol- 
lowing years are unliquidated, and we apprehend scarcely thought of but 
by the army. Wlienever there has been a real want of means, any defect 
in system, or neglect in execution, in the departments of the ai-my, we 
have invariably been the sufferers, by hunger and nakedness, and by 
languishing in an hospital. 

"We beg leave to urge an immediate adjustment of all dues ; that as 
gi-eat a part as possible be paid, and the remainder put on such a footing 
as will restore cheerfulness to the army, revive confidence in the justice 
and generosity of its constituents, and contribute to the very desirable 
effect of re-establishing public credit. 

"We are grieved to find that our brethren, who retired from service on 
half -pay, under the resolution of Congress in 1780, are not only destitute 
of any effectual provision, but are become the objects of obloquy. Their 
condition has a very discouraging aspect on us, who must sooner or later 
retire, and from every consideration of justice, gratitude, and policy, 
demands attention and redress. 

" We regard the act of Congress respecting half -pay, as an honourable 
and just recompense for several years' hard service, in which the health 
and fortunes of the officers have been worn down and exhausted. We 



282 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1782 see -svitli chagrin the odious point of view in which the citizens of too 
many of the States endeavour to place the men entitled to it. We hope, 
for the honour of human nature, that there are none so hardened in the 
sin of ingratitude, as to deny the justice of the reward. We have reason 
to believe that the objection generally is against the mode only. To pre- 
vent, therefore, any altercation and distinctions which may tend to injure 
that harmony which we ardently desire may reign throughout the com- 
muffiity, we are willing to commute the half -pay pledged, for full pay for 
a certain number of years, or for a sum in gi'oss, as shall be agreed to by 
the committee sent with this address. And in this we pray, that the 
disabled officers and soldiers, with the widows and orphans of those who 
have expended or may expend their lives in the service of their country, 
may be fully comprehended. We also beg, that some mode may be 
pointed out for the eventual payment of those soldiers who are the sub- 
jects of the resolution of Congress of the 15th May, 1778. 

"To the representation now made, the army have not a doubt that 
Congress will pay that attention which the serious nature of it re- 
quires. It would be criminal in the officers to conceal the general 
dissatisfaction which prevails, and is gaining ground in the army, from 
the pressure of evils and injuries, which, in the course of seven long 
years, have made their condition in many instances wretched. They 
therefore entreat, that Congress, to convince the army and the world that 
the independence of America shall not be placed on the ruin of any par- 
ticular class of her citizens, will point out a mode for immediate redress. 

"H. Knox, M. General. 

"John Paterson, B. General. 

" J. Greaton, Colonel. 

" John Crane, Colonel. 

" H. Maxwell, Lient. Colonel. 

[Here follows eight other signatures of officers of troops of four other 
States.] 
"Moses Hazen, Brigadier- General, 

" Cantonments, Hudson Eiver, December, 1782." * 

On December 9th General Paterson wrote to General Knox 
concerning the report to Congress : 

" Dear General, 

"I, agreeable to the wishes of the Committee, requested Capt. 
Pemberton to transcribe the address,t but he observed that hurry of 

* From Journals of Congress, April, 1783, vol. viii., p. 167, Philadel- 
phia, 1800. 

f The " address" referred to above is the one given on p. 281-3. 



On part of the 
Massachusetts line. 



ADDRESS TO CONGRESS. 283 

business prevented him— I then forwarded it to Col. Cortlandt for 1782 
that purpose and have repeatedly sent for it, but in vain he not jet 
being able to procure a fair transcript, as appears by his letter en- 
closed. In the interijn I transmit the former copy, and as soon as I 
can procure the other and have it signed, I will forward it to you with 
the utmost expedition. 

" It is not owing to any neglect on my part thai; this business has 
not been more forward, for I have exerted myself as much as possible. 

"John Paterson. 

" Camp, Dec. 9. 1782." * 

On December 13th General Paterson received from General 
Knox the report to Congress : 

" Camp New Windsor, Dec. 13 1782. 
" Dear General, Your polite letter accompanying the address to 
Congress per Serjt Day, I have received and shall immediately comply 
with your request in having it signed by the residue of the gentlemen 
Committee, and then hand it to Col. Brooks who repairs to the point 
to morrow or next day. Your other • requests I shall pay a proper 
attention to and am very sincerely 

" Your friend and servant, 

"J. Paterson. 
" Maj. Gen. Knox." f 

On December 21st the following staff officers are reported 
as absent : Captains dishing, North, Haskell, Lieutenants 
Cole, Cogswell, Trowbridge, Bowles, Davis, Haskell, Egles- 
ton, Walker, Tucker, Nason, Bill, Reab. 

On December 23, 1782, the following orders were issued 
in regard to General Paterson's rations : 

" Brig. Gen. Paterson, his extra allowance as Commander at West 
Point — from 18th Jan'y last to 1 April following, by warrant from 
Gen. Lincoln 166 - 409.42. 

" Subsistence for himself and servants from 1 Jan'y to 30 June 1782 

— 182 — il " 

The rations of the general oflEicers prior to January 1, 1782, 
were permitted to be drawn by them unlimitedly, and where 
the Commander-in-Chief granted warrants in their favor for 

* Historico-Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass. 
t Historico-Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass. 



284: LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

l'^82 extra pay as commanding officers in separate departments, he 
never caused to be deducted any rations received. 

In the fall of 1782 the main American army was moved 
to the wooded hills south of Newburgh. The organization 
of the army while encamped there was as follows : 

The main army was divided into two wings, each of which 
was subdivided into two divisions, which in turn were sub- 
divided into brigades, composed of several regiments each. 

The right wing, under Major-General Gates, consisted of 
two divisions, the first division under Major-General McDou-, 
gall, and the second under Major-General St. Clair. Each 
division was composed of two brigades. 

The left wing, under Major-General Heath, consisted of 
two divisions, the first division under Major-General Loi'd 
Sterling, and the second under Major-General Howe. 

The second division of the left wing was composed of the 
first brigade under General Paterson, and the second brigade 
under Colonel Greaton. 

They had little to do, except what pertains to the daily 
exercise of a body of -men whose organization and discipline, 
of necessity, were to be kept in a perfect condition. They 
had, notwithstanding, so much leisure that they were often 
chiefly occupied in discussing among themselves their real 
wrongs, which finally found a vent in an address to Congress, 
which was sent by a select committee, and awakened a debate 
which showed the weakness of the victorious colonies, not yet 
made into a union of States. 

General Paterson's brigade on January, 1783, was organized 
as follows : 



GENERAL PATERSONS BRIGADE. 285 



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286 LIFE OF MAJOR-GEXERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 The following staff officers were reported as absent on 
leave * from January to July : 

On 4th Jan. 1783. Capts. Gushing, North, Haskell, Lieuts. Cole, 
Cogswell, Trowbi'idge, Bowles, Davis, Haskell, Egleston, Williams, 
Tucker, 2 Mass. Regt. Nason, Reab & Condy. 

On lltii Jan. 1783. Capts. North, Haskell, Lieuts. Cogswell, Cole, 
Trowbridge, Bowles, Haskell, Davis, Egleston, Williams, Tucker, 
Nason, Reab. 

18th Jan. 1783. Capts. Haskell, North, Lieuts. Cogswell, Trow- 
bridge, Bowles, Haskell, Davis, Egleston, Tucker, Williams, Condy, 
Nason, Reab, Cushing, Gamt, Freeman, Sawyer. 

35th Jan. 1783. Capts. North, Haskell, Cushing, Lieuts. Cogswell, 
Trowbridge, Bowles, Haskell, Davis, Egleston, Tucker, Williams, 
Condy, Nason, Reab. 

31st Jan. 1783. Capts. Cushing, North, Haskell, Lieuts. Cogswell, 
Trowbridge, Bowles, Haskell, Davis, Egleston, Tucker, Williams, 
Nason, Reab, Condy. 

8th Feb. 1783. Lieut. Bowles, Haskell, Davis, Egleston, Tucker, 
Williams, Nason, Reab, Condy. 

On 15 Feb. 1783 — Capts. Cushing, North, Haskell, Lieuts. Cogswell, 
Trowbi'idge, Bowles, Davis, Haskell, Egleston, Tucker, Williams, 
Nason, Condy, Reab. 

On 22 Feb. 1783. Capts Cushing, North, Haskell, Lieuts. Cogswell, 
Bowles, Davis, Haskell, Egleston, Williams, Tucker, Nason, Condy, 
Reab. 

On 1st March, 1783. Capts. Cushing, North, Haskell, 4th Regt. 
Lieuts. Cogswell, Bowles, Davis, Haskell, 7th Regt. Egleston, WilUams, 
Tucker, Nason, Condy, Reab. 

On 8th March, 1783. Capts. Cushing, North, Haskell, Lieuts. Cogs- 
well, Bowles, Davis, Haskell, Egleston, Williams, Tucker, Nason, 
Condy, Reab. 

On 15th March, 1783. Capts. Cushing, North, Haskell, Lieuts. Cogs- 
well, Bowles, Davis, Haskell, Egleston, Williams, Tucker, Nason, 
Condy, Reab. 

22d Mch. ditto. 
. 29th " ditto. 

5th Apr. ditto, added Lieut. Phelan's name. 

12th April ditto. 

19th April ditto, added Lieut. Trowbridge 

26th April ditto 

3d May ditto 

lOtli May ditto 

*Sewars Diary, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



ABSENTEES ON FURLOUGH. 287 

17th May ditto 1783 

24th May ditto 

31st May ditto 

7th June ditto 

14th June ditto 

21st June — Capt. Gushing, Lieuts. Castaing. Bowles, Ensign Staf- 
ford, Lieuts. Egleston, Nason, Clapp. 

On March 31st the following notice was given relating to 
the committee sent to Congress in January : 

" Left Wing Orders by B. Geni Paterson, March 31st 1783. 
" Tlie Commandants of Regiments in the Massachusetts Line are 
desired to assemble on Wednesday next ten oclock a.m. at the public 
building, to consider the bill of expenses incurred by their committee 
of the line who were sent to Boston the last fall — and every other 
matter which may be necessary respecting their late mission." * 

On February 26th and on the 2cl of April he signs himself 
*' senior officer of the Massachusetts line." 

In March he signs himself " commander of the left wing 
of Newburgh cantonment." 

" Cantonments American Army. 
" New Windsor, April 2, 1783. 
"Sir: a vacancy for a majority happened for Captain John Bur- 
nam of the Massachusetts Line on the rth January last, by the pro- 
motion of Colonel Greaton, therefore I request your Excellency would 
be pleased to issue him a Warrant agreeable to transmit it hence as 
soon as may be. 

" I am with respectful sentiments of esteem and respect, your Excel- 
lency's most obedient and very humble servant 

"John Paterson, B. Genl. 
"His Excellency " Senior officer 3Iassats Line." 

" Governor Hancock." f 

" Head Quarters, Newburgh 4th April 1783. 
" Brigade Orders. 

" Brigadier General Paterson, directs that two Smiths and one Col- 
lier be detailed from the brigade, for the purpose of executing the work 
thereof, and are to be considered on stated duty ; and that no order is 
to be considered as sufficient for them to work, unless signed by the 

♦Sewal's Diary, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 
f Captain Cushing's Orderly Book, brigade of General John Paterson, 
American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 



288 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 commandant or Brigade Qv Master that there be a report made weekly 
to the commandant every Saturday afternoon, of what work has been 
done in the course of the week, by whose order, and for whom — The 
Q. Mr of Brigade will please to point out the names of the men he may 
want for the purpose afore mentioned, and the Brigade Major will de- 
tail them accordingly." 

On April 19th the preliminary treaty of peace was pro- 
claimed to the army at Newburgh. The following orders 
were issued for brigadiers of the day from April to June from 
the headquarters at Newburgh. 



For the day tomorrow 



( B. Geni Paterson 
I B. Q. M. 2nd Masstts 



T^ ,, , , ( B. Geni Paterson 

For the day tomorrow i„^,:,,,^ 

•^ ( B. Q. M. 1st Masstts 



For the day tomorrow ■] ' 
( B. 



For the day tomorrow 



33nd April 83. 

May 14, 1783. 
May 20, 1783. 



B. Geni Paterson 

Q. M. 1st Masstts Brigade 

June 8, 1783. 
B. G. Paterson 
B. Q. M. 3d Masstts Brigade.* 



General Paterson's brigade was organized as follows 

*Ibid. 



GEXERAL PATERSOX'S BRIGADE. 



289 



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290 LIFE OF MAJOR-GEXERAL JOHN" PATERSON. 

1783 In March, 1783, Lieutenant Phelan was appointed his aide- 
de-camp, to take effect from June, 1783. General Paterson 
was brigadier of the day on April 17tli and 26th, May 1st, 
5th, 9th, 26th, and June 1st, 5th, and 17th. The Massa- 
cliusetts troops and the rest of the garrison were reviewed and 
complimented by General Washington. This was the last 
winter encampment of the Eevolutionary army. They re- 
mained here until the 20tli of June, when the army was 
mustered out, but the Massachusetts troops remained in 
service. They were divided into brigades. On June 20th 
the following order was issued from Newburgh : 

"Brigadier-General Paterson will take command of the 1st Massa- 
chusetts brigade and Brigadier Greaton of the 2d. These troops will 
inarch to-morrow to West Point for accurate inspection." 

General Greaton had been promoted on January 7th. The 
post was at that time in command of Major-General Knox. 
By the orders of the Secretary of War the men were em- 
ployed in building arsenals and magazines at that post. 

On June 15th General Paterson wrote to General Heath : 

" HUTTS 15th June 1783 
" Sir. 

" The Hutts are now divided to the several Regiments, they wait 
your orders, when they will move into them immediately. 

" I think at ten o'clock to morrow will be a proper time, the 2id 
Regt. will then have the guards, who have not to move and by that 
time the sixth will be relieved. 

" As the brigades are now broke up bj^ this reform, I wish to know 
whether I have any command, if I have, what it is, I shall not pre- 
sume to give any directions, until I am informed and therefore make 
my application to you as commanding officer of the Mass. Une. 
" I am with esteem 

" Your obt Servt. 

" John Paterson B. Genl. 
"Maj. Gen. Heath."* 

On the 16th of June, the officers of the army sent the 
following petition to Congress. General Paterson was among 
the signers. 

* Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. 



PETITION TO CONGRESS. 291 

"To His Excellency, the President and Honorable Delegates of the 1783 
United States of America, in Congress assembled. 

" The Petition of the Subscribers, Officers in the Continental Line of 
the Army, humbly showeth : 

" That, by a Resolution of the Honorable Congress, passed September 
20th, 1776, and other subsequent resolves, the officers, (and soldiers 
engaged for the War) of the American Army who shall continue in 
service till the establishment of Peace, or, in case of their djing in 
service, their heirs are entitled to receive certain Grants of Lands, ac- 
cording to their several grades, to be procured for them at the ex- 
pense of the United States. 

"That your petitioners are informed that that tract of country, 
bounded north on Lake Erie, east on Pennsylvania, south-east and 
south on the river Ohio, west on a line beginning at that part of the 
Ohio which lies twenty-four miles west of the river Scioto, thence 
running north on a meridian line till it intersects with the river 
Miami, which falls into Lake Erie, thence down the middle of that 
river to the lake, is a tract of country not claimed as the property of 
or in the jurisdiction of any particular state in the Union. 

" That this country is of sufficient extent, the land of such quality, 
and situation such as may induce Congress to assign and mark it out 
as a Tract or Territory suitable to form a distinct Government (or 
Colony of the United States) in time to be admitted one of the confed- 
erated States of America. 

" Wherefore your petitioners pray that, whenever the Honorable 
Congress shall be pleased to procure the aforesaid lands of the natives, 
they will make provision for the location and survey of the lands to 
which we are entitled within the aforesaid Disti'ict, and also for all 
Officers and Soldiers who wish to take up their lands in that quarter. 

"That provision also be made for a further grant of lands, to such 
of the Army as wish to become adventurers in the new Government, 
in such quantities and on such conditions of settlement and purchase, 
for public securities, as Congress shall judge most for the interest of 
the intended government, and rendering it of lasting consequence to 
the American Empire. 

" And your petitioners, as in duty bound shall ever pray. 

" Signed by two-hundred and eighty-eight officers of the Conti- 
nental line of the army. 

"June 16, 1783."* 

This letter alludes to what later became the " Ohio scheme." 

On June 20, 1783, the troops remaining in the cantonment 

were ordered to march on Monday morning, the 23d, at 5 

* "Life of Manasseh Cutler," vol. i., p. 150. 



292 LIFE OF MAJOR-GEXERAL JOHX PATERSON. 

1783 o'clock, the senior brigadier on the Massachusetts line to con- 
duct the column over Storm King to West Point. All the 
general oflficers who had been doing duty in camp at New- 
burgli were given leave of absence, except Major-General 
Knox, who had assumed command at West Point, and 
Brigadiers-General Paterson and Greaton, who served un- 
der him. The soldiers viewed the disbanding of the army 
with forebodings. For a long time neither officers nor pri- 
vates had received any pay, for the treasury was empty. 
Washington said that they had suffered everything that hu- 
man nature is capable of suffering outside of death, and be 
could not avoid apprehending a train of very serious evils. 
In the latter part of 1782 a committee from the army bad 
visited Congress and returned with a series of most unsatis- 
factory resolutions passed by that body. Feeble in resources, 
they made no definite promises of present relief or future jus- 
tice. This gave rise to the celebrated " Newburgh letters," 
of which two were issued anonymously and written with great 
power and ability. The first letter, dated Saturday, March 
8, 1783, advised the army to appeal from the justice to the 
fears of the government, make demonstrations of their power, 
and so obtain justice. It began by a recital of their wrongs, 
of the alleged insults heaped upon them by Congress, of its 
cold neglect and their own forbearance and patience, and of 
their self-sacrifice and patriotism. 

" If this," the letter says, " be your treatment while the swords you 
wear are necessary to the protection of your country, what have you 
to expect from peace, when your voice shall sink and your strength dis- 
sipate by division, when those very swords, the instruments and com- 
panions of your glory, shall be taken from your sides and no remaining 
mark of your military distinction left you but your infirmities and 
scars ? Can you consent to retire from the field and grovv^ old in pov- 
erty, wretchedness and contempt ? Can you consent to wade through 
the vile mire of dependency and owe the remnant of that life to charity 
which has hitlierto been spent in honor ? If you can, go, and carry 
with you the jest of tories, the scorn of whigs, and what is worse, the 
pity of the world. Go, starve, and be forgotten.'" 

Growing bold in his indignation, the author assails Wash- 



PETITION TO CONGRESS. 298 

ington himself, and exclaims, " Suspect the man who would l'^83 
advise to more moderation and longer forbearance. Let 
nothing but death separate jou from your arms." 

With this address was circulated privately a notification of 
a meeting of oflficers on the following Tuesday. 

In general orders, March 11th, Washington expressed dis- 
approbation of such disorderly proceedings, and at the same 
time requested the general and field officers and one officer 
from each company and a proper representation of the staff 
of the army to assemble at 12 o'clock on the following Satur- 
day, to hear the report of the committee of the army to Con- 
gress. This was a master stroke and assured him the control 
of the meeting and the selection of the number and rank of 
the officers to compose it. On the appearance of this order, 
the writer of the anonymous address issued another, more 
subdued in tone, in which he sought to give the impression 
that Washington ajDproved of the scheme. 

The meeting was held, General Gates presiding, deep solem- 
nity pervading the assemblage. Amid the most profound 
silence the commander commenced reading the address he 
had prepared, so compact in form, so clear in expression, so 
dignified and patriotic, so mild and yet so severe, and so 
important to the well-being of the republic. 

" Gentlemen," he said, " by an anonymous summons an at- 
tempt has been made to convene you together. How incon- 
sistent with the rules of propriety, how unmilitary, and how 
subversive of all order and discipline, let the good sense of 
the army decide." 

Pausing for a moment, he drew out his spectacles, carefully 
wiped and adjusted them, and while doing so remarked: 
" These eyes, my friends, have grown dim, and these locks 
white, in the service ; yet I have never doubted the justice of 
my country." 

This simple remark under the circumstances had a power- 
ful effect upon the assemblage. He concluded his address 
with these memorable words : 



294 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 " Let me adjure you in the name of the common country, as you 
value your own sacred honor and as you respect the rights of liuman- 
ity and the national character of America, to express the utmost horror 
and detestation of the man who wishes under any specious pretense to 
overturn the liberties of our country, who wickedly attempts to open 
the flood-gates of civil discord and drench our rising empire in blood. 
By thus determining and thus acting, you will pursue the plain, direct 
road to the attainment of your wishes, you will defeat the insidious 
designs of our enemies, who are compelled to resort from open force 
to secret artifice, and you will give one more distinguished proof of 
unexampled patriotism and patient virtue, rising superior to the most 
complicated surroundings, and you will by the dignity of your conduct 
afford occasion for posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious ex- 
ample you have exhibited to mankind, ' Had this day been wanting, 
the world had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human 
effort is capable of attaining.' " 

Then he descended from the platform and walked out of 
the building, leaving the officers to discuss the matter un- 
restrained by his presence. They passed resolutions unani- 
mously expressing confidence in their chief and in Congress, 
and their determination to bear with patience their grievances 
until they should be redressed. 

More than forty years elapsed before it was discovered that 
the writer of these addresses was Major John Armstrong, one 
of General Gates's aides, who after the war held civil offices of 
distinction in our government. 

General Paterson, in expectation of immediately going to 
West Point, wrote to General Knox on the 21st the letter 
given below. 

" To Major-General Knox : 

" Sir : I have directed my Quarter Master to proceed with all possible 
dispatch to West Point, & receive your instructions where the troops 
are to be encamjDed : I could wish that they might occupy the ground 
which I referred to when you was at the public building on Thursday 
last, so far as is convenient, at least. 

" The troops will leave this ground on Monday morning next, & 
make the best of their way to the Point. 

" I have desired the Q. Master to apply to you for instructions what 
steps he must take to procure me agreeable Quarters ; I prefer a house 



ARRIVAL AT WEST POINT. 295 

to myself, being more satisfactory than with company. Your pohte- 1783 
ness in this matter will much oblige, Sir, 

" Your most obedient & 

" Humble servant 

"John Paterson. 
Massachusetts Hutts, 21st June, 1783." * 

To this letter General Knox replied ; 

" West Point, 22 June 1783. 
"Dear Sir, 

" I have received your favor of this date. I shall have no objections 
to your brigade occupying the ground around the red house and your 
having your quarters in it. There is some little embarrassment con- 
cerning the arrangement of quarters which will be removed next week 
as far as respects Col. Butler — Capt. Clift has his wife with him and 
will be under the necessity of residing in one of the rooms at 
present. . . 

"As it will be necessary that one regt. should be on Constitution 
Island I wish you and General Greaton would agree which it shall 
be — The regiment which shall be upon the Island will have the best 
accommodations — If you and Genl Greaton will come down to- 
morrow or early next day all the necessary arrangements could be 
made previous to the arrival of the troops 

" I am, dear Sir, 

" Your humble Servant, 

"Gen. Paterson." t "H.Knox. 

On the 23cl of June General Knox notified General Wash- 
ington of General Paterson's arrival at West Point : 

" West Point 23 June 1783 
" Sir, 

" I take the liberty just to inform your Excellency that the brigades 
of Generals Paterson and Greatons arrived at nine o'clock at this post 
in good order. The first brigade are encamped upon the plain about 
the red house. The 2pd regiment of the 2d brigade are gone into the 
old barracks and into the barracks at Fort Clinton. The 4 Regt are 
encamped where the plains ai'e [unintelligible]. . . . It is proposed 
to place the New Hampshire troops upon Constitution Island. I hope 
this arrangement will be agreeable to your Excellency's ideas. 

" I have the honor etc 
" His Excellency " H. Knox. 

" Gen'l Washington " X 

* From the collection of Dr. John S. H. Fogg, of Boston. 
f Historico-Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass. 
X Knox Manuscripts, vol. xii., p. 171. 



296 LIFE OP^ MAJOK-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 The news that riots had broken out among the dissatisfied 
Pennsylvania troops and that Congress had been actually 
surrounded and threatened by less than 300 men, and had 
felt obliged to leave Philadelphia to meet in Princeton, 
reached Washington at Newburgh on the 24tli of June. 
He immediately altered his previous orders, and now ordered 
Major-General Howe to go at once to Philadelphia with 1500 
men. General Paterson and his brigade were ordered to form 
part of these troops : 

" West Point, June 34th, 1783. 
" Gen. Patersons brigade & one Regt are to be ready to march to- 
morrow morning, to move to King's Ferry, by water. Gen Paterson 
will give returns. Gen Paterson will order a subaltern, two sergeants 
& 24 rank & file to relieve posts 3 & 4. Brigade orders from Gen Pater- 
son commanding Hospital subjects to be sent to Philadelphia."* 

Regarding these orders General Knox replied to General 
Paterson : 

" West Point, 8 o'clock p.m. 

June 25, 1783. 
" Dear General, 

" I have just received a note from headquarters dated five o'clock this 
afternoon which states that the necessity still exists for the troops 
to press on — I hope you will be able to reach Ringwood to-morrow 
night. I have thought it necessary to forward you this note least the 
doubt we were in to-day should in any degree retard your march 
in the morning. 

" I am, Dr Sr 

' ' Your hbie Servt. 

" H. Knox. 
" Gen. Paterson." f 

On the 26th of June General Paterson wrote to General 
Knox : 

" Reynold's House, Smith's Clove 

" Thursday morning. June 26, 1783. 
" Dear General, 

" Your favor of last evening reached me this morning. I had 
arrived about ten minutes prior to the arrival of your Letter — Your in- 
junctions relative to my pressing on shall meet with all due notice — I 

* Garrison Orders, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 
f Historico-Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass. 



GEN. PATERSON GOES TO PHILADELPHIA. 297 

shall make no unnecessary delay, and not remain longer on this 1783 
ground than giving sufficient time for the soldiery to cook the fresh 
provisions they have on hand, to prevent its being lost. — the weather 
we find exceedingly warm, and I am sorry to add that a number of the 
men are destitute of Shoes, which I fear will impede the march, unless 
some steps are devised to supply them. 

" If possible, you may depend on my seeing Ringwood this evening, 
—and be assured that nothing shall be wanting on my part to facili- 
tate the wishes of Congress, my General, and yourself. 
" I am, Dear sir, with esteem & respect 
' ' Your humble servant 

" John Paterson, B. Geni" 
" 7 o'clock, A. M." 

The same day Greueral Knox sends the shoes : 

*' Dear Sir, 

"I send you three hundred pairs of shoes, which from the pre- 
cautions vised, I hope will reach your troops to morrow night. Please 
to let your clothiers receipt for them regimentally— As soon as the 
other companies arrive they will be ordered to follow you with all 

possible despatch. 

"I am dear Sir, 

' ' Your Affectionate 

" H. Knox." 
"West Point 

" 26 June 3 o'clock 
"Gen. Paterson."* 

In a letter "to the President of Congress,'' dated " Head- 
quarters, Newburg, evening, 24 June, 1783," Washington 
writes: "The brigadiers now remaining with the army are 
Paterson, Huntington, and Greaton, besides the adjutant- 
general." f 

On receiving these orders General Paterson started at once. 
He went to King's Ferry witli the 1st, 2d, and 8d Massa- 
chusetts regiments to go by water to Philadelphia to put 
down the mutiny, and presided over the court-martial to 
punish the offenders. On July 16th the court-martial went 

* Letters of Washington, vol. x., p. 273. 

f Historico-Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass. 



298 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 into session ; it was postponed until further orders on Sep- 
tember -ith. On July 8tli, at Philadelphia, General Pater- 
son was ordered to fix on a convenient place for the people 
coming to market in camp to dispose of their produce. The 
1st regiment was ordered as his personal guard. 
On July 10th General Howe orders : 

" Philadelphia 10th, July 1783. 

"The Reved Doctor Evens, is appointed Chaplain to the 1st Masstts 
Brigade, and is to be respected accordingly. Divine Service will be 
performed by him on Sunday next. General Paterson, and colonel 
Sprout will fix upon some place for this purpose at or near the En- 
campment, where the Line will attend at four oclock in the afternoon 
of that day. " * 

"The 1st Regiment gives Genl Paterson guard July 15, 16, 18, 30, 
21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, and August 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 
17, 19, 20, 22, 25, and 26. 

" The 3rd. Regiment gives Genl Paterson guard July 17, 19, 22, 25, 
28, 31 and August 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24. f 

On July 15th a general court-martial, of which General 
Paterson was to be president, was ordered the next day. On 
August 22, 1783, Major-General Howe ordered : 

" Major Gibbs will march with the 2d Regiment as early tomorrow 
as possible — he will attend for Orders this afternoon at General Howe's 
quarters. 

' ' As the camp when the Troops under marching orders move on 
will be more contracted, it will become reqviisite to reduce the guards, 
General Paterson therefoi'e is I'equested with the Officer of the day to 
examine the ground and to report tomorrow to General Howe what 
number of guards will be necessary." X 

On August 2-lth he was ordered to determine the number 
of guards necessary for each regiment. On September 21st 
it was ordered, " for the execution of Sergeants Naggle and 
Morrison of the Pennsylvania line, General Paterson shall 

* Captain Cushing's Orderly Books, American Antiquarian Society, 
Worcester, Mass. 

t Ibid. t Ibid. 



GEN. PATERSON COMMANDS AT WEST POINT. 299 

appoint the place and give all the necessary directions." 1783 
These men were among the mutineers sentenced by the court- 
martial. They were pardoned before the execution. On 
September 25, 1783, General Howe, who was in command, 
complimented General Paterson's troops as they were about 
to leave on the next day for West Point. He returned to 
West Point in October. 

The following staff officers are reported as absent in 
October : " West Point 18th Oct. 1783. Capts. Gushing, Lieut. 
Bowles, Ensign Stafford, Lieuts. Egleston, Nelson, Nason 
Clapp, Castaing. On the 25th Oct. Capt. Gushing, Lieuts. 
Castaing, Bowles, Ensign Stafford, Lieuts. Egleston, Nelson, 
Nason, Glap ." * 

On October 23d General Knox wrote to General Pat- 
erson : 

" West Point, 33rd October 1783. 
"Dear Sir, 

" I beg that you would assemble the commanding officers of the four 
Massachusetts regiments, and direct them that they draw lots to de- 
cide which regiment shall occupy the Connecticut huts, on the other 
side of the river for winter quarters — 

"It is necessary that this should be done this day. 
" I am, 

"Dear Sir, 

" Your Humble Servt, 

"H. KxX0X."t 
"Gen. Paterson." 

It thus appears that General Paterson was constantly in the 
Highlands from the winter of 1778-79 until 1783, and that he 
frequently commanded at West Point. There were but four 
generals who were closely identified with West Point during 
the Revolution — leaving Arnold out of the question, whose con- 
nection was short and inglorious. The first was General Par- 
sons, who commanded in the winter of 1777-78, and who was 
the first commander there. The second was General Pater- 

*Ibicl. 

f Historico-Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass. 



300 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 son, who was in sole command during the winters of 1778-79, 
1779-80. During the winter of 1780-81 he was under Gen- 
eral Heath, and 1781-82, under McDougaU, foui' seasons. 
This was much longer than any other general or garrison 
commander. He was also at the "Point" in the summer and 
fall of 1783, before he went to Philadelphia, and after his re- 
turn. The tliu'd was General McDougall, who had general 
command, and was actual commandant at times, as during 
the fall and w^inter of 1781-82. The fourth was General 
Heath, who was there for three seasons. General Knox was 
only in charge during the time that the army was being dis- 
banded, or from June to December, 1783. General Paterson 
was at West Point almost continuously from December 18, 
1778, to July, 1780, more than a year and a half. The Mass- 
achusetts troops which he commanded formed the garrison 
either in whole or in part dui'ing these foiu* seasons. He was 
never away except for very short periods, and then generally 
on duty elsewhere. West Point was his station. From July 
to December, 1780, he was with the main army under Wash- 
ington mo\'ing about on the west side of the river at Dobbs' 
Ferry, Orangetowu, Liberty Pole, Totoway, etc., then back to 
West Point to remain until August, 1781, when he was with 
the army on the east side of the river a short time under 
Washington, until the Commander-in-Chief went to York- 
town, and then under General Heath, when he went back 
again to West Point and stayed there until the summer of 

1782. After tliis date the whole army was under Washing- 
ton's personal command, and was collected there simply to 
keep itself in form, and had a fine camp at Verplanck's Point. 
It then crossed up to New Windsor and wintered there for the 
last time, 1782-83, West Point being garrisoned at that time 
by a few troops who could winter in its huts. A general at 
that time was no longer needed there. 

The treaty of peace was signed in Paris on January 20, 

1783. It arrived in Philadelphia on March 23d and was pro- 
claimed on April 17th. Two days later, April 19th, was the 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. clxxix., p. 226. 



CLOSE OE LHE WAR. 301 

anniversary of the battle of Lexington, eight years previously. n«2 
And so the struggle for freedom resulted, after eight years 
of war, within a day or two of the anniversary of the day it 
commenced, in the complete independence of the colonies and 
the establishment of a free government, and on the anniver- 
sary of the day ivJien John Faterson ordered his men to be ready 
to march at sunrise the next morning. 

The war' closed officially on the 18th of April, 1783. The 
proclamation closing it was ordered to be read the next day 
at the head of every regiment and cor23s of the army, after 
which the chaplains with the several brigades were ordered to 
render thanks to Almighty God for the blessing of peace and 
for all His mercies. The religious spirit which had so char- 
acterized every act of the foundation of this country was still 
the prominent spirit of those days. In this proclamation 
General Washington made a prophecy which has become true 
in a much more general way than he could possibly have ex- 
pected. His proclamation closes with these words : 

" Happy, thrice happy, shall they be pronounced hereafter 
who have contributed anything, who have performed the 
meanest office in erecting this stujjendous fabric of freedom 
and empire on the broad basis of independency, who have 
assisted in protecting the rights of human nature and of es- . 
tabhshing an asylum for the poor and oppressed of aU nations 
and reHgions." 

Orders were at once issued by the Secretary of War for 
the disbanding of the army, which was to be accomplished 
gradually. It took place by degrees during the summer. 
The general muster out of the army took place on June 13th. 
Only a few regiments were retained in service. On June 23d 
the camp at Newburgh broke up and moved to West Point, 
where General Knox now commanded, as that was the only 
position of importance in that quarter necessary to be 
held. When peace was formally concluded, the rest of the 
army was disbanded by proclamation on November 2d, 
1783. 

On the morning of November 3, 1783, the army which had 



802 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 been encamped at Newburgh and New Windsor assembled 
officially for the last time. At the head of each regiment, 
the proclamation of Congress and the formal orders of Wash- 
ington were read and the last word of command passed along 
the lines. To those of us who look back upon it merely as 
an event, it seems that it would have been a most joyful oc- 
casion ; but it was not so to the oi'dinary soldier of that time. 
The older men, who as colonists, had felt the oppressions of 
the home government, had entered the war witli the deter- 
mination to free themselves from a yoke that had been very 
galling to them. They had exjDected the struggle to be a 
short one, and the combats decisive in their favor. The 
younger men had followed the example of their elders with 
great enthusiasm. Both were equally determined, and certain 
that the only possible result would be the success of their 
cause, but no one gave any careful thought as to what the 
consequences to themselves would be in case of victory. The 
word sounded pleasantly in their ears, and they had always 
associated it with prosperity. Most of the thoughtful ones 
had considered the case of their being taken prisoners, of the 
confiscation of their property, if they had any, of severe suf- 
fering, sickness, and even death ; but they were now to face 
the attainment of the object for which they had so long fought, 
and had arrived at it under circumstances so very different 
from what they had anticipated, that while peace was a source 
of great rejoicing to the country, to the soldier, with few ex- 
ceptions, it brought with it a train of circumstances, which, 
for the time being, were misfortunes to the individual, and 
which were likely to continue until the country could readjust 
itself to the occupations of peace. 

The army as a whole had been neglected by Congress, the 
authority which they themselves had set up. Their pay had 
been withheld, they had suffered from both hunger and cold, 
but there was at least some one besides themselves responsible 
for their misfortunes. The war, however, had been a long 
one, and every officer and soldier had become so accustomed to 
the varying conditions of military life that the older ones had to 



ARMY PROSPECTS IN PEACE. 303 

a large extent forgotten the occupations of peace, while many of 1783 
the younger ones had never learned them. The disbanding of 
the army, therefore, pi-esented to tliem no pleasant prospect. 
Many of them had apparently little future before them. 
Many of them had lost all that they had during the wa'-, and 
the younger ones had been entirely unable to lay up any- 
thing for the future. Many of those who bade each other 
good-by on that day had been for months companions in the 
same tent and were now parting, probably never to see each 
other again. They were most of them, as individuals, in a 
condition a little worse than they would have been had the 
war never occurred. Their military knowledge had been 
learned in the school of adversity, and was now, in times of 
coming peace, worse than useless. To the officers who had 
joined the Society of the Cincinnati, which was at first so 
much suspected, their badge, if they wore it, was a reason for 
them to be mistrusted. Every one had to face the world and 
its stern demands under conditions not quite so favorable as 
they would have done eight years before. It was, therefore, 
not a moment for joy, but one of real sorrow, not for the 
country, but for themselves. The way out of it did not ap- 
pear plain to them, and perhaps would not have been plain at 
all had it not been that every step in the organization and 
carrying out of this war had been taken deliberately, and that 
all the councils had been carried on in the strictest accord 
with parliamentary rules. It appeared for some time as if 
there was nothing before them but to become the prey of the 
speculators who on all such occasions are ready to trade upon 
the misfortunes or even the lives of those who fall into their 
clutches. But from this melancholy condition, which was so 
serious to many an individual, the country itself rose after a 
very short interval to a condition of great prosperity. 

The British who had occupied New York for so long 
a time, evacuated it on November 25th, and the Ameri- 
cans marched in as they marched out, on the same day. 
The four Massachusetts regiments which General Pater- 
son had commanded w^ere encamped in the Highlands and 



304 LIFE OF JLAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSOX. 

1783 were retained until December, 1783, when they and he retired 
together to private life. The last of the British soldiers left 
New York on November 25th. Washington and Governor 
Clinton entered the city the same day. More than twenty 
thousand loyalists left their homes, after the British went, to 
settle in various countries near the United States. A few re- 
turned to England, but many who could not go remained to 
die in the belief that the countr}^, now separated from Eng- 
land, could never become anything but a feeble state, and 
that the war from its commencement had been a mistake. On 
September 30th, 1783, General Paterson was commissioned as 
a major-general. He left the army in December, 1783, hav- 
ing remained in the service continually since his appointment 
as colonel. He was one of the last generals to leave the army. 
On his retn-ement he was granted half-pay for life. When 
he left Lenox that Saturday morning of 1775 at sunrise the 
thu'teen colonies were bounded on the west by the AUegha- 
nies ; when he resigned his commission and returned to that 
town the United States was bounded on the west by the 
Mississippi. 

When the war was over. Congress, which had never fully 
commanded the confidence of the people, seemed to have lost 
it entirely. It had during the war been in many cases con- 
trolled, or at least led, by intriguers. It had had no settled 
policy. It had been in favor of compromises when to make 
them would have been ruinous. It had listened gravely at 
times to caliunniators of Washington, but had not acted on 
their suggestions, because the simple greatness of the man did 
not aUow it. It had neglected both the na\'y and the army. 
The former made no complaints. The gains made by that 
exceedingly irregular arm of the service had been very large ; 
they made no complaints because they did not wish either 
criticism or investigation. The army had never been properly 
supported. It had no perquisites, it made no gains. It did 
the hard fighting and endured the suffering like heroes, never 
like mere soldiers for pay. When they had been paid at all, 
it was in a depreciated currency, which eventually became 



COST OF THE WAR. 305 

worthless. The whole army felt that they had suffered as 1783 
great wrong from Congress and from their own States or 
Provinces as the colonies had ever suffered from England. 
They had fought eight years to gain redress from British 
wi'ongs, and at the end of it were greater sufferers than they 
had been at the commencement of the war. There were in- 
fluential people who supported the formation of an organized 
movement to compel Congress to fulfill its broken promises. 
There were threatenings of civil wai*. Congress made further 
promises, which it did not and could not fulfill. Bitter feel- 
ings were openly displayed in public meetings in New England. 
No one was satisfied ; everywhere there were local and personal 
jealousies. The seed of discontent was germinating, but was 
prevented by wise counsel from growing into civil war, as it 
afterward did in Massachusetts. 

The cost of the war had been, on an average, twenty mill- 
ions of dollars a year. The country had received from France 
and Spain, as gifts, two and a half millions. It had borrowed 
seven millions from France, two millions from Holland, and 
one and a half millions from Spain. The public debt was be- 
tween nine and ten millions. All the rest of the obligations 
of the country had faded out in the depreciation of the paper 
issued by Congress. Of the total debt, Congress had spent 
about two thirds and the States one third. The arrearages of 
interest on the public debt had been forgiven by the countries 
who held the obhgations. An arrangement was made with 
them that the principal was to be repaid in yearly installments, 
commencing three years after peace was concluded. The dif- 
ference had been entirely lost. This was the contribution 
which the people had made. They had given both their blood 
and their treasure to the country, and, though dissension was 
rife, and resistance to the law and violent acts were counseled, 
they, for the most part, when the war was over, returned to 
their homes, and became as active in the arts of peace as they 
had been in those of war. 

These had been a tedious four years ; no fighting, no activity, 
nothing but feints and keeping ready to act on the offensive 



306 LIFE OF JIAJOR-GEKERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 at any time, should the occasion require. *' They also serve 
who only stand and wait " was but little consolation to these 
men, who were ])urning with the desire to serve their country 
in some way and j^et were obliged to remain idle. No wonder, 
with no chance for action, no opportunity for showing how 
deeply they loved their country and how willing they were to 
sacrifice everything to it, that the Highlands got the name 
of the "hated Highlands," the "execrable Highlands." But 
these men did their duty and did it well, for West Point was 
the key to the military situation in the north, a point which 
by feint and otherwise the British commander tried to get, 
but never dared to attack. It was the strategic key to the 
situation. The fact that it was held and continued to be held 
was as much a victory for the patriots as though they had 
w^on a series of bloody battles in the field. 

They aU helped to establish on the firmest basis the govern- 
ment of the country of which Gladstone, in one of his speeches, 
says : " I incline to think that the future of America is of 
greater importance to Christendom at large than that of any 
other country." 

General Paterson held the highest rank in the Continental 
army attained by any citizen of Berkshii'e County. He was 
one of the very few major-generals holding command at the 
close of the war. With the exception of Lafayette, he was the 
youngest officer of his rank in the Revolutionary army. He 
had the complete confidence of his superiors, not only as a 
patriot and a soldier, but as a man of sound judgment. His 
early experience as a lawyer and as a leader of men had 
ripened his judgment and given to his mind a judicial char- 
acter. It is noticeable that he appears almost at once on 
coiirts-martial, and frequently as president, when the natural 
course would have been to have placed an officer of higlier 
rank in the position. He was selected not only on account of 
his character as a soldier, but for his knowledge of law and 
his eminent judicial ability. He was one of the youngest, if 
not the youngest, brigadiers in the American army, but he 
always occupied positions of great trust. Hardly any other 



CHARACTER OF THE GENERAL. 307 

general had seen so much active service and did so much 1783 
fighting. He was in the Continental Congress, the siege of 
Boston, the Canada campaign, both the Jersey campaigns, and 
the siuTcnder of Burgoyne, and from that time on he was 
always on the watch-tower to prevent action on the part of 
the British, and in every situation his work was not only well 
done, but defied criticism. Every letter of his is fidl of the 
care which he had for his men, and shows the tact with which 
he managed them. 

On January 14, 1784, Congress ratified the treaty of peace. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PEACE, 

1783 During the war General Paterson had formed intimate ac- 
quaintances with many of the foreign officers. He was as- 
sociated with General Kosciusko, the Polish hero, with 
whom he formed an especially close and intimate friendship, 
often, from the necessity of war, sleeping in the same bed. 
They were spirited, sprightly men. Kosciusko was full of 
life, and sometimes played practical jokes upon General Pater- 
son when in bed, making a trial of strength ; and occasion- 
ally General Paterson, who was a great athlete, would take 
Kosciusko across his knee and hold him till he begged to be 
released, calling him " a cruel man." They were in the bat- 
tles of Bemis' Heights and of Saratoga and in the northern 
campaign together, and were stationed at West Point after 
the treason of Arnold. General Kosciusko's quarters were on 
the bend of the river, where his monument now stands. Gen- 
eral Paterson's quarters were opposite, at the base of the hill. 
Slavery was tolerated at that time in the province of Massa- 
J chusetts. General Paterson's body-servant was Agrippa 
Hull,* who was generally called '' Grippy." He always claimed 
that he was the sou of an African prince. He served with 
him through the war. He was intelligent and unusually 
bright. His aptness and wit and his readiness in repartee, as 
well as the intelligent manner in which he performed all his 
duties, made him a great favorite with all the officers of the 
army stationed at " the Point." Kosciusko took a fancy to 
Grippy, and after a time became much attached to him, and 
General Paterson gave him to him as a servant. Kosciusko 

* He has been erroneously called Agripjm Hunt. 
308 



GRIPPY. 309 

made Grippy his eonfldential and head servant, and put him 1783 
in charge of his wardi-obe. The General had brought with 
him from Poland a costly uniform, said to have been brilliant 
with adornments, mth a chapeau or crown-shaped cap and a 
showy cluster of nodding ostrich plumes. On one occasion 
Kosciusko went from West Point down the river some miles, 
expecting to cross over and be gone two or three days. In the 
meantime Grippy improvised a dinner-party and invited to it 
aU the black servants in camp. He dressed himself in Gen- 
eral Kosciusko's Polish uniform. As a substitute for boots 
or black stockings, he blacked his legs in order to make them 
shine like boots. Kosciusko, for some reason finding he could 
not cross the river, returned unexpectedly the same day to 
camp. Before reaching his quarters he was apprized of what 
was going on, while the dinner was in progi'ess. He left his 
horse and reached the front of his quarters at the bend of the 
river, without being discovered. The weather was warm, the 
windows aU open, with a screen placed before the open door 
to exclude the entertainment from the view of passers-by. 
The party were drinking wine freel}^ and were very hilarious. 
The General managed to get behind the screen unobserved, 
just as the party, aU standing, were ceremoniously drinking 
Grippy's health and calling him by the name of his master. 
General Kosciusko suddenly sprang in among them, causing 
such commotion that had Satan himself appeared in their 
midst it could not have resulted in a greater stampede. Some 
of the party escaped by the door, but more of them jumped 
through the windows, falling to the ground heels over head. 
Grippy fell prostrate at the General's feet, crying, ''Whip me, 
kiU me, Massa ; do anji^hing with me, Mr. General." General 
Kosciusko, taking hold of his hand with great formality, 
said, "Rise, Prince, it is beneath the dignity of an African 
prince to prostrate himself at the feet of any one." He made 
him put on his cap of plumes (Grippy meanwhile pleading to 
be whipped or killed) and marched with him across the grounds 
to General Paterson's quartei-^ at the base of the hiU. The 
uniform attracted much attention, and to those they met the 



310 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 General introduced Grippy as an African prince, and some 
thought he was one in fact. They erected a temporary throne 
at General Paterson's quarters and placed Grippy upon it. 
After going through many mock ceremonies of presentation 
to royalty that afforded the throng a world of sport, they 
closed by smoking with him the calumet of peace. This was 
equal to crucifixion to Grippy, and was rare sport to the large 
mihtary party that had assembled. He never forgot it, and 
was careful after that never to assume any false position. 
Wlien he was an old man he delighted in telling this story 
himself. After the war, when Kosciusko was about to return 
to Poland, as Grippy had become very useful to him and 
almost necessary to his comfort he was desirous that he should 
go with him, and he agreed to do so, not wishing to refuse his 
master, to whom he had become very much attached -, but the 
night before they were to embark Grippy ran away to avoid 
sailing, and returned afterward to General Paterson's service, 
who later gave him his freedom. He was an apt represent- 
ative of the African race, intelligent and witty, and a great 
favorite with all the officers of the army who knew him. 
I "When Kosciusko returned to the United States Grippy was 
taken to New York to see his old master, and was very cor- 
dially received by him. General Lafayette knew Grippy in 
the army, and on his second visit to this country the Sedg- 
wicks of Stockbridge took Grippy to New York to meet him. 
As long as he lived the children and grandchildren of the 
officers he had known went frequently to Stockbridge to see 
him. He was never tired of telling them stories of the Revo- 
lution. He would hold the little children on his knees, while 
the older ones gathered round him. As he grew old he lived 
the war over again with the children, and would patiently re- 
peat story after story, or repeat the same story over and over 
again if they wished it. Grippy lived and died at Stockbridge, 
Mass., where he owned a small farm, and was for many years 
a prominent person in all great festivals and notable assem- 
blages. 

In 1783, before the army was disbanded, and after the 



Vt 







GENERAL PATERSON 

FROM THE MONMOUTH BATTLE MONUMENT AT FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY 



F> ontispiece 



THE CINCINNATI. 311 

peace had been signed, and while the officers were still at their "83 
cantonments, General Knox di-ew np a plan of organization 
of a society of the officers. One officer from each regiment 
met at the headquarters of Baron Steuben on the east bank 
of the Hudson, and organized the Society of the Cincinnati. 
In its original organization, and as long as he lived, General 
Paterson took the hveliest interest. The meeting for that 
purpose was held in a large square room in the Verplanck 
House, the headquarters of Baron Steuben, while the Ameri- 
can army was encamped in the vicinity of Newburgh, situated 
two miles northeast of Fishkill Landing, New York. The 
following is part of the record of the proceedings at the final 
meeting of the convention : 

"Cantonment of the American Army, 

"January 19, 1783. 
"At a meeting of the general officers and the gentlemen delegates by 
the respective regiments as a convention for establishing the Society of 
the Cincinnati, held by request of the President, at which were present 
Major-General Baron Steuben, President, Major-General Howe, Major- 
General Knox, Brigadier-General Paterson, Brigadier-General Hand, . . . 
Baron Steuben acquainted the Convention that he had, agreeably to their 
requests at the last meeting, transmitted to His Excellency the Chevalier 
de la Luzerne, Member Plenipotentiary from the Court of France, a copy 
of the constitution of the Society of the Cincinnati." 

One article of the society was as follows : '^ The officers of 
the American army, having been taken generally from the 
citizens of America, possess high veneration for the character 
of that illustrious Roman, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus, and 
being resolved to follow his example by returning to their 
citizenship, they think they may weU denominate themselves 
the Society of the Cincinnati." General Paterson's name 
stands eleventh on the list after that of "Washington, and third 
of the brigadier-generals. When the Massachusetts society 
was formed, on the 19th of June, 1783, General Paterson pre- 
sided. He served it again as vice-president in 1785 and 1786. 

On his retirement from the army he returned to Lenox. 
His first considerable purchase of land there, was recorded on 



312 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1783 May 2, 1779. On April lOtli, while he was in command at 
"West Point, he had received a furlough, from which he re- 
turned on June 12th. During this furlough he projected the 
purchase of 116 acres of land, for which he paid '' four hun- 
dred pounds lawful money," This was part of the land then 
known as " the ministers' grant." It was a portion of a grant 
of 4000 acres made by the Province of Massachusetts Bay 
to seven persons, five of whom were ministers (hence the 
name), as an equivalent for lands they had purchased and 
given to the " mission Indians " of Stockbridge. General 
Paterson purchased the land from Elizur Dickerson. It was 
part of a tract of 240 acres which Dickerson had obtained 
from the famous Puritan divine, Jonathan Edwards. When 
the tract was surveyed it was found that the conveyances 
covered about 130 acres. The deed is recorded at the Eegis- 
try of Deeds in Pittsfield, Book 13, p. 434. This was the 
" Paterson farm," where four of his children were born, three 
were married, and three were buried. 

Of the highways shown on the plan, Main and Stockbridge 
Streets, with a road west near the present Hawthorne Street, 
were the only ones existing in General Paterson's time. Main 
Street, through the village, does not occupy the same position 
as then. The part of it which passes in front of General Pater- 
son's house is partly the same as it was in 1754, when it was 
originally laid out. On the 22d of April, 1784, he purchased 63 
acres of land on the Pittsfield road, about a quarter of a mile 
north of the Meeting House. On the 14th of February, 1785, 
he purchased a parcel containing about one quarter of an acre 
near Lenox Furnace, now Lenoxdale. Later he purchased 
one half of a 50-acre lot in the northwest of the town from 
David Pixley. These lands he conveyed to Azariah Egleston, 
in 1787. He built the house which he occupied as long as he 
lived in Lenox, close onto the street line. In the year 1859 
it was moved back to its present position, and the grounds 
around it beautified, b}^ his grandson, Thomas Egleston, of 
New York. The house is now owned by his great-grandson, 




-Mt rT/IORNt— — Z—-TT-ST. ^ 

5T0CKBRIDGE 



P/^TER50n F/lRIYl 

Lenox. Mj5s. 



1779. 

Roods and Buiklmgs as in 16% 



THE LENOX COURT-HOUSE. 313 

Thomas Egleston, of that city. He at once became actively 1784 
interested in promoting the welfare of the town. He resmned 
the practice of his profession as a lawyer, which, as the comts 
had been closed since the king's jndges were prevented from 
holding their conrt in Great Barrington, became very large. 
On the 15th of March, and again, on September 27, 1784, he 
was chosen moderator of the town meeting. On March 15th 
he was appointed to ascertain the boundaries of the highways. 
Peace being now fully restored, the citizens of Lenox who 
had survived the war returned to their usual occupations. 
Having no longer, as a town, use for the powder house, they 
took it down and converted the materials of which it was 
built into a receiving vault in the village cemetery. Shortly 
after the resumption of the occupations of peace the question 
which town should be the county seat began to be of great 
interest to the citizens of Berkshire County. Each one of the 
middle tier of towns was persuaded that it was the proper place. 
The contest gradually narrowed itself down to Pittsfield, Lenox, 
and Stockbridge. General Paterson and Major Egleston were 
among the strongest advocates for Lenox. They went further 
than the mere question of advantages. They circulated a sub- 
scription hst for the erection of the county buildings. This 
list v/as headed by General Paterson, who was always interested 
in every public movement, with eighty pounds sterhug, the 
largest sum that was subscribed, and a very large amount for 
those days, and followed with a smaller sum, l^ut stUl a very 
large one for those days, from Major Egleston.* When the 
requisite amount was nearly raised by subscription the papers, 
with a petition, were sent to Boston. It was then put to a 
popular vote, the result being that the citizens of Berkshii-e 
County, by majority vote, petitioned the legislature to have 
Stockbridge and not Lenox made the county town. The leg- 
islature, however, determined that it should be Lenox, and 
made it so. On September 27th, at a town meeting of which 
he was made moderator. General Paterson was chosen dele- 
gate from the town to a county convention to be held the 

* See Appendix C. 



31-i LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1784-1785 next day " to prevent if possible the court-house and jails 
being built in any other town in the County but Lenox, as 'tis 
fixed here by law." In May, 1787, the Court of General Ses- 
sions appointed Major Egleston, of Lenox, Theodore Sedgwick 
and John Bacon, of Stockbridge, to determine a site for the 
county buildings, which w^ere commenced in 1788. The jail 
was finished in 1790, on the hill on the old Stockbridge road, 
half a mile south of the village. It burned down in 1812, 
when the legislature was memoriahzed to change the county 
seat to Pittsfield. The contest was between the northern tier 
of towns, who wanted Pittsfield, and the southern tier, who 
insisted upon Lenox being retained. Notwithstanding, when 
put to vote by towns it was decided in favor of Lenox ; but 
this contest in regard to the removal of the county buildings 
from Lenox was constantly renewed, and after eighty-one 
years (in 1860) was successful, when they were removed to 
Pittsfield. 

The first court-house was completed in 1791 or 1792. It 
was a wooden building. It is still standing in excellent preser- 
vation. The present court-house, now no longer used for that 
purpose, was built in 1815. The original court-house is now 
occupied by the post-office, the town-hall, and stores. 

On the 7th of March, 1785, he was appointed as a select- 
man, assessor, and verifier of the fences of the town, and was 
sworn in. On March 28th he " was chosen one of the school 
committee, to provide schoolmasters and to see the said money 
(£150) applied for the purpose aforesaid, in the district in 
which they respectively reside." On April 4th he w^as made a 
committee to provide a suitable place for the town stock of 
ammunition. On May 9th he was chosen "to represent this 
town at the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth 
for the ensuing year." 

He was interested, as before the war, in aU public matters, 
as is shown by the two extracts given below. Remembering 
the danger which he had been exposed to in Canada and 
Ticonderoga from small-pox and the sufferings of his soldiers, 
he was in sympathy with those who had tried to avoid it al- 



SMALL-POX. 315 

though they had used uuhxwful means, and it is not surpris- 1785 
ing to find him joining in the petition given below : 

"July 1st 1785. 
" To the Jionor(tb]e the Senate and House of Eepresentatives of the Common- 
uralth of Massachusetts. 

"The Subscribers Inhabitants of the County of Berkshire, Rejiresenta- 
tives in the Genl Court humbly shew, that during the last Fall & Winter 
the small Pox was commimicatecl repeatedly from the State of New York 
to divers Inhabitants of the said County, that many Persons di'eading the 
malignant effects of that Disorder when raging in the natural way, en- 
deavored to avoid the Evil by Inoculation that by means thereof the dan- 
ger was increased (the Business of Iiioculation being conducted by no 
System) and the Persons Receiving the Infection increased in proportion, 
that the danger was so imminent that it was impossible to wait to pursue 
the course pointed out by Law. That great distress must be the result 
of a \'igorous exaction of the Penalty incurred on the Occasion, that 
although in some instances there was probably imprudence and in others 
the disorder was communicated when there was not an absolute necessity 
therefor, yet it will be extreamly difficult if not absolutely impossible to 
discriminate. Wherefore your Petitioners humbly Pray your Honors 
that the Persons above described who have incurred the penalty by Law, 
provided against receiving or communicating the small Pox by Inocula- 
tion from the first Day of November 1784 untill the tirst Day of June last 
past may be indemnified therefor and duty bound shall ever Pray. 
"Erastus Sargent James Barker 
"John Paterson John Ashley 

"Nath Bishop Wm Brunson 

"Daniel Taylor Ebenr Peirce 

"Charles Goodrich Ebenezer Jenkins 
Irael Jones." * 

"Common Wealth of Massachusetts, House of Representatives June >jc 24th 
1785. 
"On the Petition of Erastus Sergeant, John Paterson and others, 
Eepresentatives from the several Towns in the County of Berkshire, set- 
ting forth that a number of the Inhabitants in the several Towns in said 
County had Inoculated themselves and familys for the small Pox for fear 
of (A) the Danger of receiving that Infectious disease in the Natural way 
from some person that brought the same into the several towns in sd 
County. And the Above Inhabitants receiving the small Pox by Inocu- 
lation being Contrary to Law have rendered themselves liable to fines 
and penalties without some Relief from the Court, therefor 

* Massachusetts Resolves, chap. ci. 



316 LIFE OF JIAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

17S5 " Resolved that all and Every person being Inhabitants of Either of the 
Towns in the County of Berkshire that have Received the small Pox, 
either in the Natm-al way or by Inoculation in any of the Towns afore- 
said, at any time between the first day of November A D 1784 and the (B) 
first day of June 1785 be and they are hereby Remitted and discharged 
from all penalties incur'd by breach of any of the Laws of this Common- 
wealth for preventing the Spreading of the small Pox, any Law or Re- 
solve to the Contrary notwithstanding. 

" Provided, nevertheless that all and Every of the above described In- 
habitants against whom any Actions or presentments shall have taken 
place, before the passing of this Resolve are and they shall be holden to 
the payment of all Legal Charges that may have arisen in Consequence 
of said Actions or presentments, anything in this Resolve to the Contrary 
notwithstanding 

sent up for concurrence 

Nath Gorham Spkr 

In Senate June 29, 1785. Read & concurred with 

amendments at A & B 

at A dele " the danger of " 

at B dele "first" & insert Tenth 

Sent down for conciu-rence 

Saml Phillips jxinr Presid 

In the House of Representatives July I, 1785 
Read & concurred 

Nath GtORHAm Speaker 
Approved 

James Bowdoin." 

While a representative from Lenox to the General Coiu't for 
the terms of 1785-86, General Paterson presented the following 
petition. It is difficult now to realize that the conditions which 
caused the petition could have existed at so late a period in 

Massachusetts. 

" To the honorable the Senate ^- the House of Eeprcsentativcs in General 

Court assembled * 

"Novr 1785 

" Humbly shew the subscribers, in behalf and at the request of the 
Representatives of the Counties to which we respectively belong, that 
such of late hath been the destruction of young cattle, and sheep by 
wolves, in the extreme parts of the Commonwealth, as to threaten the 
total extirpation of those useful and profitable animals imless some 
methods are speedily adopted, to prevent this evil ; they therefore hum- 

* Massachusetts Senate Documents, No. 607. 



COINAGE. 317 

bly pray your Honors to take the matter into consideration and grant 1785 
relief by the offer of additional bounties, to persons destroying wolves, 
or in such other way as j'our Honors in your wisdom shall deem proper. 
" And as in duty bound shall ever pray 

Pliny Merrick ^ 
John Williams > For Hampshire 
Justin Ely ) 

John Paterson For Berkshire 

Moses Ames For York 

Isaac Parsons ■\ 
Saml Merrill > For Cumberland 
Benjamin Duning ) 
William Jones > por Lincoln 
John Stinson ' 
In Senate, Nover 26 1785 Read and committed to Peter Coffin Esqr 
with such as the Honble house shall join 
Sent down for concurrence 

Saml Phillips junr President 

In the House of Representatives, Nov 30, 1785 

Bead & concurred & Mr Fessenden & Mr Davis of Charlton are joined 

Nath Gorham Speaker." 

During the Revolutionary War the Spanish milled dollar 
was the unit of common commercial account. The advocates 
of honest paper money expected it to be redeemed in the full 
value of that coin After the Revolution, between the time of 
its close and the adoption of the constitution, foreign coins, 
very much worn and sometimes so much defaced that it was 
impossible to tell except from their diameter what the original 
coin had been, constituted the almost exclusive medium of 
circulation, and there were a great number of them. So much 
suffering had been caused during the war b}^ the issue of 
paper currency based simply on the good faith of the State 
that three clauses were put in the constitution prohibiting the 
States from coining money, emitting bills of credit, and ten- 
dering anything but gold and silver in payment of debts. 
These were considered necessary to prevent the debasement 
of the currency and the consequent loss of financial credit by 
the nation. 



818 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1785 When the decimal currency * and the standard American 
dollar was adopted in the United States on July 6, 1 785, the 
people accepted it at once, but they did not give up the use 
of shillings and pence. The use of the word shilling and of 
a coin to represent it were still continued up to the time of the 
Civil War. The word penny is still largely used in place of 
cent. The dollar was divided into shillings. Their number 
in a dollar as well as their value and name varied very much 
in the different States. The shilling had been one twentieth 
of a pound, and the endeavor was made to divide the dollar 
into shillings that would be approximately of the same value. 
In Georgia and South Carolina it was made j\ of a dollar, so 
that 4f shillings of 21f cents, which were usually reckoned 
as 5, were equal to a dollar. In New Hampshire, Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, Khode Island, and Virginia there were 6 
shillings in a dollar, equal to 16f cents each, which was called 
a Yankee shillmg. Seventy-five cents was counted as 4 shil- 
lings and 6 pence, 37^ cents as 8 shillings and 9 pence, 12^ 
cents as 9 pence. In New York and North Carolina there 
were 8 shillings in a dollar, equal to 12|- cents, called a York 
shilling. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Delaware and 
Maryland, the shilling was -^j of a dollar, making 8 shillings 
and 6 pence in a dollar, and the shilling was equal to ISy^^ 
cents. The coins in use were very largely old Spanish pieces, 
which were very much worn, " the York shilling " being repre- 
sented by a coin the value of which was about 10 cents, and the 
half-shilling or sixpence being a coin which was generally worn 
perfectly smooth, the value of which was not much over 4 
cents. There was also a pistare^ie valued at 20 cents. These 
coins were continued in use until the time of the Civil War, 
after which they were received only at their weight value and 
very rapidly disappeared from circulation. In New Orleans 
the shilling was called a hit. It is very singular that, although 
the coins have long since disappeared, and the values repre- 
senting them have no longer any legal status, the words shil- 
* For the coinage resolutions of July 6, 1785, see Appendix K. 



COINAGE IN USE. 319 

ling and pence are still used, wliile the words dime and half- l'^85 
dime have not come into general use. 

The colonists had adopted for their money the English cur- 
rency of pounds, shillings, and pence. This pound was in use 
under the Saxon rule about 671 a.d., and was originally a 
Troy pound of pure silver, which was divided into twenty 
parts called shillings. In the time of William Eufus it was 11 
ounces and 2 dwts. of fine silver, with 18 dwts. of alloy, or 
the weight of line silver in twenty shillings. In 1087 it was 
worth 8 pounds, 2 shillings of the present money. Both its 
value and weight were afterwards decreased. In order to dis- 
tinguish it from otlier pounds, it was called by the Baltic and 
German traders, who visited London during the Middle Ages, 
a pound esterling, which was finally corrupted into the name 
sterling. At the time when the silver pound was established 
by royal decree there was no gold coinage in England. The 
first copper pence were introduced in 1797. 

From 1785 to 1786 General Paterson served as a represen- 
tative of Berkshire County in the General Court at Boston. 

On December 1, 1785, General Paterson was appointed 
major-general of the 9th division of the State by the State of 
Massachusetts. On June 7, 1786, the governor reported that 
he had issued commissions to the generals appointed.* The 
commission of General Paterson is given below : 

" Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
"By his Excellency James Bowdoiu Esqr Governor of the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts 

" To the honorable John Patterson Esq Greeting 

" You being appointed a major General of the militia within this Com- 
monwealth, but more especially within the County of Berkshire which 
forms the ninth of the nine divisions of the said militia 

" By virtue of the power vested in me I do by these Presents (reposing 
special trust & confidence in your loyalty, courage & good conduct) com- 
mission you accordingly. You are therefore carefully and diligently to 
discharge the duty of a Major General in leading ordering & exercising 
the said militia in arms both inferior officers and Soldiers ; and keeping 
them in good order & discipline. And they are hereby commanded to 

* See Appendix E 



320 LIFE OF JNLIJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1786 obey you as Major General : and you are yourself to observe & follow 
such orders & instructions as you shall from time to time receive from 
your Superior officer. 

" Given under my hand & the Seal of the said Commonwealth the third 
day of April in tlie Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & eighty 
six & in the tenth year of the Independence of the United States of 
America. 

(LS) " James BovTDOiN * 

" By his excellency's command 

"John Avery, jiinr Secry." 

On May 2, 1786, he was made moderator of the town meet- 
ing at Lenox, and he was again chosen selectman and assessor. 
He decUned to serve as selectman, bnt was sworn in as assessor. 
He was voted on the same date £10 10s. for his services as 
representative at the General Court in 1774, and £3 10s. for 
his services as selectman, with interest to date. 

In March, 1786, General Paterson became interested in the 
purchase of lands in the State of Maine. On the 28th of 
October, 1783, the General Court of the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts resolved that the unappropriated lands in Lin- 
coln County in Maine, which is the most northeasterly county 
of that State on the ocean, should be sold, and in March of 
the year 1786 General Paterson, with seven other persons, 
agreed to purchase, for the sum of three thousand six hundred 
and two pounds and eight shillings in specie securities of the 
United States, 19,392 acres of land, on condition that two 
hundred acres near the center of the town should remain at 
the disposition of the government, and that two hundred acres 
near the center of the town should be appropriated for the use 
of the ministry, two hundred acres for the use of the first set- 
tled minister, and two hundred and eighty acres for the use of 
a grammar school, and upon the further condition that they 
should quiet the claims of the settlers in that district who had 
made improvements prior to January, 1784, and were now 
there, and also of such settlers as had purchased the improve- 
ments of any previous settlers who had sold and had left, by 
granting to each of them, their heirs and assigns, one hundred 

* Massachusetts Book of Commissions, p. 161. 



INTERESTS IN MAINE. 321 

acres of laud, to be so selected as to best iuclude tlleir im- 1786 
j)i-ovements, and also ou condition that they should cause to 
be settled in this township five families annually for the next 
six succeeding- years. It does not appear from the records 
that this purchase was ever completed, or, if it was, what was 
done with the land, bnt it is interesting; as showing the condi- 
tion of the State of Maine at that time. The document in full 
is given below. 

" Know All men by these Presents 

"That we whose names are undersigned & Seals affixed appointed a 
Commite by a resolve of the General Court of the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts passed the 28th day of October A.D. 1783 on the Sujeet 
of unapin'opriated Lands in the County of Lincoln and by that and other 
resolves of the said Court empowered to sell & convey the unappropriated 
Lands of the Commonwealth In the said County, for, and In consideration 
of the sum of Three Thousand six Hundred & two Pounds Eight shillings 
in the specie Securities of the United States of America drawing interest 
to us paid by John Patterson Esqi" of Lenox & Thompson Joseph Skinner 
Esqr of Williamstown both in the County of Berkshire Joseph Blake of 
Milton in the County of Suifolk Merchant Phinehas Upham Esqr & James 
LTpham Merchant both of Brookfield & John Ball of Northborough In the 
County of Worcester & John Duballet of Boston In the County of Suffolk 
Merchant & all of the Commonwealth aforesaid We have Given Granted 
bargained Sold & conveyed and by these Presents In behalf of the said 
Commonwealth do give Grant bargain Sell & convey imto the said John 
Patterson, Thompson J. Skinner, Joseph Blake, Phinehas Upham, James 
Upham, John Ball & John Duballet, Their Heirs & Assigns one Township 
of Land Lying in the County of Lincoln aforesaid Vizt No Five contain- 
ing Nineteen Thousand Three hundred & Ninety two Acres & is bounded 
as follows, beginning at a Spruce Tree marked thus 1784, with a heap of 
Stones by it, Standing on the west Shore of Schoodiek Bay, alias Passa- 
maquady Bay, & is the North East Corner of No Four Township from 
thence Running South Seventy degrees West Five Miles two hundred & 
seventy one rods to a Cedar stump & stones being a corner of Four 
Townships & is a five Rods sht of a burnt Swamp on the North side of a 
hill Then North twenty degrees West five Miles one Himdred & Four 
Rods to a Stake & a heap of Stones on the Southerly side of Schoodiek 
River & to continue the same Course into the middle of s<i River then 
down the midle of Schoodiek River to the bay afoi-esaid opposit the Devils 
Head so called) then Southerly by the West Shore of sd Bay to the bounds 
first mentioned To the sfl Grantees in the following proportions Vizt (to 
John Patterson seven sixteenths to Thompson J Skinner one eighth to 



822 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1786 Joseph felake one Eighth to Phinehas Upham one Eighth to James Up- 
ham, one sixteenth to John Ball, one sixteenth to John Duballet one 
sixteenth, of the foregoing describ'd Township to be held by them in 
Severalty 

" Eeserving however for the future disposition of Government two hun- 
dred Acres near the Center of sd Town and upon Conditions that the said 
John, Thompson J, Joseph, Phinehas, James John & John shall appro- 
priate near the Center of said Town two hundred Acres for the use of the 
Ministry, Two hundred Acres for the use of the first settled Minister & 
two hundred & Eighty Acres for the use of a Grammar School, & upon 
this further Condition that the said John, Thompson J. Joseph Phinehas 
James John & John Shall quiet the Settlers Who made distinct Improve- 
ment prior to the first day of Januaiy 1784 and now Remain on such Set- 
tlements, also Such Settlers who have purchased the Improvements of any 
such Settlers whose Settlement was made before the first of January 
aforesaid & who has sold & Left such Possestiaus by Granting to each of 
them tlier heirs & Assigns one Hundred Acres of Land to be laid out so 
as best to Include their Improvement theiron & that the sd John, Thomp- 
son J, Joseph, Phinehas, James, John & John shall settle or cause to be 
settled on the sd Township No 5 five familys annually for the next Six 
succeeding years to have & to hold the sd Granted Premises to the sd 
John Patterson, Thompson J Skinner Joseph Blake Phinehas Upham, 
James Upham John Ball & John Duballet their Heirs & Assigns to their 
proper use & behoof for ever & that the sd Committe in behalf of the sd 
Commonwealth Covenant & agree with the sd John Patterson Thompson 
J. Skinner Joseph Blake, Phinehas Upham, James LTpham, John Ball & 
John Duballet that the sd Common wealth shall warrant the same Granted 
Premises to them their Heirs & Assigns saving as aforesaid against the 
Lawfull claims of All persons 

"In "Witness whereof the Committe have hereunto sett their hands & 
Seals this day of March 1786 

" Signed Sealed & delivered 
in Presence of us " * 

Governor Bowdoin called a convention at Falmouth, now 
Portland, on October 5, 178a, to discuss the propriety of hav- 
ing a separate government for the State of Maine. This 
caused a great deal of discontent, and probably had something 
to do with the Shays' Rebellion which followed so soon, as it 
caused the formation of a party against ''the evil tendency 
toward dismembering the Commonwealth." Maine did not 

* Massachusetts Miscellaneous Papers. 



INTERESTS EST MAE^E. 828 

become au independent State until 1820. It became the prop- 1786 
erty of Massachusetts by purchase. 

The history of this transaction is interesting as it shows 
by what an uncertain tenure the colonists held their first char- 
ter, as weU as theii* determination to defend it at any cost. 
There was at the court of Charles II. of England a gentleman, 
Sir Fernando Gorges, who was a soldier of fortune. He was 
possessed with the idea that he ought to be a ruler of some 
part of the world and live in state. He had at times influence 
with the court, and when attention was called to the particu- 
larly favorable charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company, he 
became possessed with the idea that in some way this charter 
stood between him and his ambitions and hoped-for greatness. 
He therefore, on December 19, 1632, made a vigorous attack 
on it, the result of which was that the matter of the charter 
was referred to a committee of twelve Lords of the Council 
for investigation and report. They reported that there was 
no cause why the charter should be interfered with. This did 
not satisfy Sir Fernando, so in February, 1634, he renewed 
the attack, in the hope of ha\dng it vacated and of going out 
to New England as governor-general with royal authority, to 
assume the whole government and reign there in state like a 
prince. The result was a demand for the surrender of the 
charter, which demand could not be complied with, as the 
charter had been taken out to America. When this news 
reached the colony the clergy were asked, " Wliat ought we to 
do if a governor-general should be sent out of England?" 
The quick and decisive answer came : " We ought not to accept 
him, but defend our lawful possessions." It was the same 
kind of spirit which, when their rights were actually trampled 
on a century and a half later, made the Revolutionary War. 
They were blind to all this in England ; but as the order could 
not then be obeyed, it lay on the table of the Lords in Coun- 
cil and was forgotten. If they had sent out a governor-gen- 
eral at that time he would have been resisted with aU the force 
the colonies could command. The matter was called up, how- 
ever, in 1635, with the result of declaring the charter void ah 



324 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1785 initio. It, however, resulted in nothing; the king was too 
busy and Gorges too poor to take advantage of it, and the 
charter of the colony was not surrendered. In June, 1635, 
the Council for New England, which held all the country be- 
tween the 40th and the 48 th parallels of latitude, from ocean 
to ocean, surrendered its charter to the king. The king then 
announced his intention of making Sir Fernando Gorges his 
governor-general; but as matters did not progress rapidly 
enough, if they did progress at all, on April 3, 1639, Sir Fer- 
nando secured a patent by which he and his heirs were created 
Lords Proprietors of the province or county of Maine, with 
the title of Lord Paramount of Maine. This seemed to satisfy 
his ambition for the time. He at once created a complicated 
paper government, and sent out in 1640 his governor with the 
charter, expecting as soon as his government was established 
to go in state himself. His first and second governors, how- 
ever, would not remain ; he could get neither emigrants nor 
credit. His ambitious projects were never realized. Misfort- 
une seemed to follow his schemes from the beginning. Wlien 
he died he left his claim and his title to his heirs. As there 
was no question as to the validity of his claim, his heu's suc- 
ceeded to it, but were never able to make anything out of it, 
and finally, on May 13, 1677-8, his grandson sold the deed to 
the Massachusetts Bay Company for £1250, and the colony 
of Massachusetts Bay thus became the Lord Paramoimt of 
Maine. 

On the 16th of June, 1783, 288 ofiicers in the Continental 
line sent a petition to Congress praying that body to make 
them a grant of lands on the Ohio.* No attention was paid 
to this at the time, although on September 16, 1776, Con- 
gress had offered to all those who would enlist for the 
war very liberal bounties in land, and to foreign officers 
who would leave the enemy's service and enter the Conti- 
nental line similar offers were made. When these offers were 
made, Congress did not own an acre of land, but all the 
vacant territory claimed by the British was covered by claims 

* For the letters of Colonel Putnam and General Washington on the 
subject see Appendix I. 



THE OHIO SCHEME. 325 

of title by the several colonies. When the United States was 1785 
formed, in addition to the freedom of the thirteen colonies, it 
found itself the possessor by conquest of the vast amount 
of territory previously known as " crown lands," but 
then known as "vacant territory." The attention of Con- 
gress was almost immediately called to this territory, as a 
means of quieting all these claims, for all this back coun- 
try became common property, to be administered for the 
common good, and eventually to be organized into indepen- 
dent States. Some of these States, as Maryland and New 
Jersey, refused to enter into the confederacy until these claims 
were satisfied. All the other States, except Maryland, ac- 
cepted the articles of confederation as early as May 21, 1779. 
On the 12th of February, 1781, New York gave its deed of 
cession to the United States, and then Maryland gave its deed, 
but with the distinct declaration that she " doth not relinquish 
or intend to relinquish any right or interest she hath with the 
other united or confederated States to the back country." 
Congress succeeded in quieting these claims, and in 1783, as 
soon as it had the power under the acceptance of the treaty, 
commenced studying plans for the satisfaction of them. Two 
plans were proposed. The South proposed that for two cents 
an acre any choice land in any territory could be acquired by 
those who would bear the expense of the survey. This 
would result in the greatest confusion, as every one was to 
run his own line, so that there would be constant overlap- 
ping. The New England plan was that the government was 
to make the surveys, and grants were to be made, the bounds 
of which were to be settled by surveyors under oath. This 
last plan was adopted, and provision made for the civil, reli- 
gious, and educational wants of the population, and the town- 
ship system was fully established. In the dark days of the 
Eevolution, when there was a report circulated that Eussia 
was to join England in " putting down the rebellion," Wash- 
ington had said : " If this be true we will repair to the valley 
of the Ohio and there be free." This had been preserved as 
a tradition in the army. The " Ohio Company " was formed, 



326 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON 

1785 with the plan of settling the country and founding a new 
State. 

The plan for the surveys having been adopted, General 
Paterson became interested in the famous " Ohio scheme," 
which did so much for the opening up of the Western coun- 
try. A company was organized, consisting of old soldiers of 
the Massachusetts line, chief among whom was Colonel Euf us 
Putnam and the Eev. Manasseh Cutler, a former chaplain. 
General Paterson was to represent the Berkshire soldiers in 
the scheme. Congress had failed to act on the petition of 
288 officers of the Continental army which had been sent to 
that body on the 16th of June, 1783, but on the 10th of Janu- 
ary, 1786, Colonels Eufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper 
issued a call for meetings of those who wished to further the 
" Ohio scheme " settlement. 

Kev. M. Cutler adds in his Journal : 

" In consequence of this notice, meetings were held in the several 
Counties, and delegates appointed, who convened at the Bunch of 
Grapes Tavern, in Boston, March 1, 1786. These were Winthrop Sar- 
gent and John Mills from Suffolk Co ; Manasseh Cutler, from Essex ; 
John Brooks and Thomas Cushing, from Middlesex ; Benjamin Tup- 
per from Hampshire ; Crocker Sampson, from Plymouth ; Rufus Put- 
nam from Worcester ; John Paterson and Jelaliel Woodbridge, from 
Berkshire ; and Abraham Williams from Barnstable."* 

The object of the meeting was to devise measures for the 
purchase of lands and the formation of a colony. It was pro- 
posed that the scrip given as pay, which was then selling at a 
very low price, should be received at its face value by the 
government in payment for these lands. Within two days 
the " Ohio Company " was organized. Not only officers of 
the army, but also those of the navy, were welcome, and 
some distingushed navy officers joined. There was a great 
deal of preliminary work to be done, for it was necessary 
to hunt for those who held the land certificates, which had 
been given in payment for services, and to set before 
them the advantages of the new country. The company was 
formed on the following basis : 

* Fi'om Manasseh Cutler's Journal, vol. i,, p. 180. 



THE OHIO SCHEME. 327 

The propositions for the formation of the Ohio Company 1*^85 
were as follows : 

Propositions for settling a new State by such oflficers and soldiers 
of the Federal Army as shall associate for that purjDose. 

1. That the United States purchase of the natives that tract of 
countrj' which is bounded by Pennsylvania on the east, the River Ohio 
on the south, a meridian drawn thirty miles west of the River Scioto on 
the west — this meridian to run from the Ohio to the Miami River, 
which runs into Lake Erie — and by this river and Lake Erie on the 
north. 

3. That, in the first instance, lands be assigned to the army to fulfil 
the engagements of the United States by the resolutions of the 16th of 
September, 1776, August 13th and September 30th, 1780, to wit : 



lO'J 


acres 


850 




500 




450 




400 




300 




200 




150 





To a major-general . . 
To a brigadier-general 
To a colonel .... 
To a lieutenant-colonel 

To a major 

To a captain .... 
To a lieutenant . . . 
To an ensign or cornet 
To a non-commissioned 

officer or soldier . . 100 
To the director of the 

military hosiDitals . 850 

3. That all associators who shall actually settle in the new State with- 
in one 3"ear after the purchase shall be effected, and notice given by 
Congress or the committee of the associators that the same is ready for 
settlement (such notice to be published in the newspapers of all the 
United States), shall receive such additional quantities of land as to 
make their respective rights in the whole to contain the following 
number of acres, to wit : 



To chief physician and 
purvej'or, each . . 500 acres 

To physicians, surgeons 
and apothecary, each 450 " 

To regimental surgeons 
and assistants to the 
surveyor and apothe- 
cary, each .... 400 " 

To hospital and regi- 
mental surgeons' 
mates, each .... 300 " 



A major-general . . . 2400 
A brigadier-general . . 2200 

A colonel 2000 

A lieutenant-colonel . 1800 

A major 1600 

A captain . . . , . 1400 



A lieutenant .... 1200 acres 
An ensign or cornet . 1000 " 

A sergeant 700 " 

Other non-commis- 
sioned officers and 
soldiers, each . . . 600 " 



And fifty acres more for each member of a family besides the head of 
it. 

4. That the rights of the officers in the medical department be in- 
creased in like manner on the same condition. 

5. That all officers in the other staff departments, who shall actually 
settle in the new State within the time above limited, shall receive 
rights of land in the proportions last stated, on an equitable comparison 
of their stations with the ranks of the officers of the line and the medi- 
cal staff. 



328 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1785 6. That this increased provision of lands shall extend to all officers 
of the line and staff, and to all non-commissioned officers and soldiers, 
who during the present war have performed in the whole three years 
service, whether in service or not at the close of the war, provided 
they present their claims and become actual settlers in tlie new State 
by the time above limited. 

7. These surj^lus rights being secured, all the surplus lands shall be 
the common property of the State and disposed of for the common 
good ; as for laying out roads, building bridges, erecting public build- 
ings, establishing schools and academies, defi'aying the expenses of 
government, and other public uses. 

8. That every gi'antee shall have a house built and acres of 

land cleared on his right within years, or the same shall be 

forfeited to the State. 

9. That, to enable the associators to undertake the settlement of the 
new State, the United States defray the expenses of the march thither, 
furnish the necessary utensils of husbandrj-, and such live stock as 
shall be indispensably requisite for commencing the settlement, and 
subsistence for three years, to wit, one ration of bread and meat per 
day to each man, woman and cliild ; and to every soldier a suit of 
clothes annually ; the cost of these articles to be charged to the accounts 
of arrearages due to the members of the association respectively. 

10. That, for the security of the State against Indians, every officer 
and soldier go armed, the arms to be furnished by the United States 
and charged to the accounts of arrearages. Ammunition to be sup- 
plied in the same way. 

11. That a Constitution for the new State be formed by the members 
of the association previous to their commencing the settlement, two- 
thirds of the associators present at a meeting duly notified for that 
purpose agreeing thei'ein. The total exclusion of slavery from the 
State to form an essential and irrevocable part of the Constitution. 

13. That the associators, so assembled, agree on such general rules 
as they shall deem necessary for the prevention and punishment of 
crimes, and the preservation of peace and good order in the State ; to 
have the foi-ce of laws during the space of two years, unless an 
Assembly of the State, formed agreeably to the Constitution, shall 
sooner repeal them. 

13. Tliat the State, so constituted, shall be admitted into the con- 
federacy of the United States, and entitled to all the benefits of the 
Union, in common with the other members thereof. 

14. That, at the above-mentioned meeting of the associators, dele- 
gates be chosen to represent them in the Congress of the United States, 
to take their seats as soon as the new State shall be erected. 

15. That the associators, having borne together as brethren the 
dangers and calamities of war, and feeling that mutual friendship 



THE OHIO SCHEME. 329 

which long acquaintance and common sufferings give rise to, it being 1785 
also the obvious dictate of humanity to supply the wants of the needy 
and alleviate the distresses of the afflicted, it shall be an inviolable 
rule to take under the immediate patronage of the State the wives and 
children of such associators who, having settled there, shall die, or, by 
cause of wounds or sickness, be rendered unable to improve their 
plantations, or follow their occupations, during the first twenty-one 
years ; so that such destitute and distressed families shall receive such 
public aids, as, joined with their own reasonable exertions, will main- 
tain them in a manner suitable to the condition of the heads of them ; 
especially that the children, when grown up, may be on a footing with 
other children whose parents, at the original formation of the State 
were in similar circumstances with those of the former." * 

Nothing shows more certainly that the officers of the 
Eevolution were badly compensated for their services and for 
the long, distressing, and many times uncertain struggle for 
the national liberty, than the destitute condition in which 
they found themselves at the close of the war. After having 
spent eight years of the most valuable part of their lives fight- 
ing for liberty, enduring every species of exposure, fatigue, 
suffering, and sickness, the armj" was dismissed and its mem- 
bers sent to their homes, if they were so fortunate as to have any, 
with unfilled purses and empty promises and an unsatisfactory 
future, many of them with constitutions broken or impaired 
by illness. The certificates which they received as evidence 
of the sum due them for their services were almost valueless. 
They were bought and sold in the market at 2|- shillings to the 
pound, and as late as 1788 were worth only 5 shillings to 
the pound. The men by forces of necessity were obliged to 
sell them or starve. They were honorable, high minded men, 
most of whom had been officers during the war, and they re- 
belled at the thought of living in poverty among people whose 
comparative wealth had been gained mostly by trading and 
staying at home. Under such feelings as these, most of them 
retired to the frontier and were very glad of such a refuge as 
the " Ohio Company " furnished them. 

* Life of Manasseh Cutler, vol. i. , p. 156 et seq. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

shays' rebellion. 

1786 General Paterson's military services did not end with the 
Revohition. Before the close of the war the discontent which 
had showed itself among the soldiers, and which had to be put 
down with such an iron hand, spread itself among; the people 
of Massachusetts and led them to acts of open rebellion in that 
and the adjoining States, under the leadership of Daniel Shays. 
They were sympathized with at first hy many of the best citi- 
zens of the State and by the people of nearly all the neighbor- 
ing States, and although it does not appear that they received 
aid from any of them, this sympathy had a great deal to do 
with the prolongation of the resistance of the rebels, who were 
everywhere defeated during many months. 

At the request of the Governor of Massachusetts, General 
Paterson commanded the Berkshire militia in the suppression 
of this rebellion. 

He selected as his statf the gentlemen whose names are 
given below, who served with him during the rebellion : 

Theodore Sedgwick, Aide-de-camp. 

Joshua Danforth, Aide-de-camp. 

Simeon Learned, Aide-de-camp. 

Erastus Sargeant, Siu^geon-General. 

Ebenezer Williams, Deputy- Adjutant-General. 

Azariah Egleston, Deputy-Quartermaster-General. 

The political agitation which led to Shays' Rebellion in 
Massachusetts began very soon after the close of the Revolu- 
tion, and for a time threatened not only the entire sub- 
version of law and order in the State, but also the nban- 



GENERAL DISCONTENT. 331 

douraent of some of the great principles wliieli had been re- 1786 
g-arded as settled by the Revolutionary War. Its complete 
suppression, however, by the energetic action of the author- 
ities of the State and the support of these principles by a 
very large majority of the people was fortunate, as it called 
the attention of the prominent men of eveiy State in the 
Union to difficulties whose solution caused a careful study of 
the conditions which rendered the rebellion possible, and un- 
doubtedly hastened not only the acceptance of the Constitu- 
tiou under which we are now living, but also its very careful 
re^dsion so as to make such occurrences unlikely in the 
future. 

Some of the people, exasperated by a condition of things 
which could hardly have been avoided, lost their judgment, 
excited their own passions and those of the multitude by pub- 
lic addresses, and sought redress in riot and murder, as if 
that would right their wi'ongs. The people of the common- 
wealth were gi-oaning under burdens and evils of which they 
imperfectly comprehended the causes and still more imper- 
fectly the remedy. They had some real and more fancied 
grievances. They had be>en in a constant state of agitation 
since the accession of George III. They had now been under 
arms since 1774. They had been without courts since 1780, 
and most of the time at war. War and its consequences had 
become familiar to them, and its rapid methods of justice sat- 
isfied them. The State constitution was new, and the Federal 
not yet adopted. They had not A^et learned }w experience 
that under a constitutional government every evil can be re- 
moved without resort to arms by patient and peaceable agi- 
tation. 

The principal causes of discontent during Shays' Rebellion 
were the universal indebtedness, the difficulty of collecting 
either principal or interest, the injustice of the law against 
debtors, the abuse of the debtors' prison, and the scarcity of 
money. There was no law for the just distribution of the 
property of the debtor among his creditors. Executions on 
property were satisfied in then' chronological order until the 



332 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1786 estate was exhausted. The least suspicion of tiuancial un- 
soundness was followed by attachments. He who came first 
got the most ; those who came last got nothing. The result 
was great injustice to l^oth debtoi' and creditor. The efforts 
of creditors to collect what was due them were resisted. The 
decisions of the courts against the debtor were regarded as the 
cause of the distress, since they gave the creditor legal power 
against the debtor. Gold and silver had for a long time ceased 
to be a circulating medium, and were rarely seen. The cur- 
rency of the country was a mere promise to pay based upon 
nothing, and had become completely valueless. How far values 
had fluctuated is shown by the fact that the allowance of tM^o- 
pence a head for killing old blackbirds had become in May, 
1780, thirty shillings ; that lal^or on the highways, which had 
previously been paid at three shillings a day, had Ijecome 
seven pounds. A dollar in silver, for the collection of taxes, 
was worth one hundred and twenty in Continental currency. 
The people were really poor. Those who could had borrowed 
money at exorbitant rates of interest to pay taxes, and now 
no ready money could be had. The burden fell heavily both 
on the State and the people. The State could not relax the 
taxes ; the people could not pay them. Both the law and the 
customs relating to the collection of debts had been harsh and 
unjust, and when the war was over there arose a fashion about 
them which made them unbearable. The people knew that 
they were carrying heavy burdens, and they could find neither 
the cause nor the remedy. They had fought for eight years 
to get redress from oppressions much more easily borne, and 
which in comparison to those they were now bearing seemed 
trifling. It appeared to some as if the whole war had been 
fought only to settle a theoretical principle, and many of 
them, if it would have brought redress, would have willingly 
gone back to " the king and all the royal family." The State 
was as badly off as the citizen. He saw no way out of the 
situation, for his quota of the national, State, county, and 
town debt was all incurred in the defense of his liberty and 
was binding upon him. Besides his obligations to the State 



THE STATE DEBT. o83 

lie had his own private indebtedness. The principal Avas |)iling 1786 
np, and in addition the interest on the portion not paid was 
accumulating", as he could pay neither the one nor the other. 

The whole of the State debt previous to the war was not 
quite £100,000. When it closed the State debt was £1,300,- 
000. In 178-4 the State of Massachusetts imposed a tax of 
£140,000. In 1786, when it became necessary to fund the 
army del)t, it was increased hy a still further imposition of 
£110,000. The State's proportion of the national debt was 
£1,500,000 in addition. During all the time that this debt had 
been accumulating the soldiers had been fighting for the great 
principles on which, since then, the laws relating to the liber- 
ties of nations have been founded, but the people had learned 
nothing of finance except as the leaders were obliged to sup- 
ply the daily needs of the army. The impulse given to manu- 
facturers by the artificial stimulus of the war ceased when it 
was over, and the}^ were depressed. Farming yielded but a 
scanty subsistence, and the houses, farms, and manufactories 
were in many cases hopelessly mortgaged ; and in the ruin 
which seemed to stare every one in the face moral as M-ell as 
pecuniary obligations seemed to lose theii" force. The soldiers, 
accustomed to the shiftless habits and excitement of camp life, 
could not accustom themselves to the routine of every-day 
duties at home. They had been fighting against the unlawful 
imposition of taxes. They were more oppressed now by the 
lawful imposition of them, than they ever had been by those 
which the king had proposed to impose. The people at large 
were quiet and patient. Some individuals who had sacrificed 
little and had grown rich by speculation, and were ostenta- 
tious in their display of it, created ill-feeling and kept up a 
constant irritation by flaunting their wealth in the face of 
their countrymen who had sacrificed greatly and now felt 
keenly the sharp pinch of poverty. Among the turbulent and 
unprincipled the cry was, "Down with the courts of law ! pre- 
vent the judges from acting, and hang the lawyers ! " The 
people were irritated by the fact tliat some of the extreme 
conservative leaders had expressed in an exasperating way 



384 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1786 a contempt for the conimou people which made them feel 
that there was a privileged class which might become an 
aristocracy. 

The constitution of the State which had been adopted in 
1780 neither abrogated nor alleviated the debtor laws, and it 
seemed as if, from the situation, their execution had become 
more cruel than before ; for the sacrifices which had been 
made by the soldiers were great, and they were the ones who 
were called upon most frequently to suffer on account of their 
inability to settle their accounts. The interest which they 
were obliged either to pay or to add to the principal consumed 
their resources without lessening theii' burdens. Bail was 
available for the criminal, l)ut not for the debtor ; and many 
a man who had fought bravely during the war came from the 
privations of camp life, where at least he had some liberty, 
only to find himself in prison behind a door which could be 
opened by money alone, which from no fault of his he did not 
have and could not get. All of the misfortunes which he 
suffered were attributed to the government. The people saw 
themselves at the mercy of either the tax-gatherer or the 
sheriff and the jailer, and if they were so fortunate as to 
escape these, they had scarcely enough to keep themselves 
alive, with no other hope but the poorhouse as a refuge in 
theii- old age. 

Leaders of the discontented were not wanting, either then 
or now. Some of these were undoubtedly sincere in their 
motives ; some of them were mere demagogues, and many of 
them hoped either for notoriety or gain. In the beginning 
they honestly demanded what they thought would bring relief 
at once. They wanted the Great and General Court removed 
from Boston, where they supposed it to be under the influ- 
ence of that city. They wished all public securities, as well 
as all money in hand and at interest, to be taxed to produce a 
revenue. They demanded the reduction of all salaries. They 
claimed that land ought to l)e made a legal tender for 
debts, and that its price should be taken as it stood when the 
debt was incurred. They wished a check put on the growing 



SYIMPATHY WITH THE RIOTERS. 335 

power of lawyers. What the debtors wanted, and they were 1786 
by far the hirgest part of the community, was in some way to 
be relieved, either by a partial or total extinguishment of their 
indebtedness or plenty of time to pay it. Hence every law, 
and every officer of the law whose business it was to collect 
debts, was odious to them. Had it not been for the efforts of 
moderate and sensible men holding- high positions in different 
parts of the State, who were determined to uphold the legally 
constituted authorities and to obtain redress only by legal 
methods, and who yet had so much sympathy with those who 
wished to get relief by violent measures that they would coun- 
sel and advise them before they committed acts of violence, and 
when they had committed violent or unlawful acts would deal 
as gently as was possible under the circumstances, there would 
have been much more bloodshed added to the acts of violence 
and rebellion. As it was, considering how many men who had 
been in the War of the Revolution were among the rioters, it 
is surprising that so few were killed. Prominent among the 
men who advised the use of legal means before the breaking 
out of the relielhon, and who entered the military service of the 
State at once to help to put it down, was Major-General John 
Paterson, who was as active before and after the rebellion as a 
peacemaker as he had been as a soldier dm'ing its continu- 
ance. It is surprising, notwithstanding the acts of violence 
and bloodshed which were committed by the rioters, that dur- 
ing the whole of the rebellion not only individuals, but the 
General Court itself showed and expressed tlieii' sympathy for 
the rioters. The sessions of the General Court were prolonged, 
other business was put aside, members listened patiently to 
and voted for measures for relieving, as far as they could, the 
distress which caused the riots, and resolutions of sympathy 
and amnesty for those misguided citizens who had implicated 
themselves in the riots were everywhere passed. The rioters 
were treated more like misbehaving children than offenders 
against the law, and hence the continiied offers of amnesty 
made to them, and the constant appeals made by their friends 
and neighbors who did not agree with them, not only for clem- 



336 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1786 eiicy, but for freedom from punishment, until it became evident 
toward the close of the rebellion that such offers were misguided 
so far as the leaders were concerned. Hundreds of citizens who, 
after they had committed violence, saw how useless and wrong 
this method of procedure was, accepted the amnesty and be- 
came good citizens, some of them becoming toward the close 
of the rebellion very efficient in helping to put it down. 

There arose before the close of the war a party who publicly 
advocated the idea that the courts ought to be abolished. 
They were, they contended, only a rich man's remedy. They as- 
serted that when they were abolished there could be no judg- 
ments, and that the result of such measures would be general 
prosperity. They stated that the only result of their shedding 
their blood in the Revolution had been to be imprisoned by 
the tax-gatherer at home, and to give to their creditors, who 
in many cases had never been in the war and sacrificed little 
or nothing for the country, the right to drag them from their 
homes to the court and from the coni't to the prison. Then 
they called county conventions based on an article of the Bill 
of Rights, which provides " that the people have a right in an 
orderly and peaceable manner to assemble to consult upon the 
common good, give instructions to their representatives, and 
to request of the legislative body, by way of addresses, provi- 
sions, and remonstrances, relief of the wrongs done them and 
of the grievances they suffer." This clause was undoubtedly 
intended to apply to town meetings, but it was made to serve 
\ as authority for less regular assemblies. The business of 
such conventions was to present grievances ; and a great 
grievance was the commutation of the pay of the officers who 
had served during the Revolutionary War. A convention 
was called both in Suffolk and in Worcester counties in 1784, 
in which they not only condemned the acts of Congress, but 
voted that the sessions of the courts were grievances, and 
attempted to make an opposition legislature. As the multi- 
tude of civil suits * had increased the number of lawj'ers, they 

* In 1784 there were more than two thousand actions, and in 1785 about 
seventeen hundred, in the county of Worcester alone. 



CONVENTIONS. 337 

asserted that this class of men ought to be abolished, and the 178G 
people were urged not to elect them for public of&ces, as they 
iH'ought the suits and were thei-ef ore the authors of then- mis- 
fortunes. They so influenced the people that in 178G the law- 
yers were to a large extent excluded from the legislature, and 
the House passed a law to admit all persons of good moral 
character to the practice of the law before the ju(hcial courts, 
and fixing their fees. 

In order to prevent the session of the court in Northampton, 
Samuel Ely, a minister who had been dismissed by a council 
on account of his moral and literary disqualifications for that 
office, had in April, 1782, incited a riot, the leaders of which 
were arrested. Ely was indicted and was condemned by the 
court of Northampton, and was released from prison in Spring- 
field by the mob. The leaders were arrested and confined, and 
a similar attempt was made to release them, which might have 
residted in much bloodshed but for the superior force which 
was called out against them. 

This riot was taken by the General Court at its next session 
as an evidence that the people were in real distress, and in 
November, considering that the leaders had been sufficiently 
punished, they pardoned them all. The pardon was considered 
as a justification of their course by the rebels ; so in May, 
1783, they attempted to prevent the sessions of the courts in 
Springfield, but were not successful. A convention more 
peaceable in character was held at Deerfield on September 29, 
1783, and they wanted for relief the division of the county or 
the removal of the courts to Springfield. The private creditor 
had been considered as an oppressor, and they commenced to 
ask themselves in what way the public and the private debts 
differed. If the private debt was a burden, was the pubUc 
debt any less a hardship ? They found that there was little 
difference in the moral obligation in either case. In a conven- 
tion held at Hatfield on October 20th they declared that they 
eoidd not pay private debts while public ones were so heavj', 
and with surprising unanimity they attacked the officers of 
the Revolutionary War — the very class which one would nat- 



338 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1786 iirally have thought would have been the last. During the 
dark periods of the war Congress had promised half pay for 
life to those officers who would continue in the service. On 
March 22, 1782, it proposed to commute this half pay for life 
to full pay for five years, which was a very reasonable and just 
commutation of the half pay. In the minds of the people this 
payment created a privileged class who were better off than 
themselves, but who in their opinion deserved no more from the 
country than they did. Then* resentment, therefore, fell on the 
very men to whom they should have been most grateful. To 
these, the salaried officers of the government and the lawj^ei'S, 
who were making a rich harvest in the courts, were added as 
among the privileged class, and they looked upon them all as 
assisting a condition of things which they considered un- 
worthy of a free government. 

The agitation which resulted, and the interest on the public 
debt, which from commutation of the officers' pay amounted to 
five milhons of dollars, made the government securities fall to 
such a point that the notes given by the government in com- 
mutation of the life pay were not sufficient to cover the time 
of actual service. This aroused so much sympathy for the 
officers that the hostility was now transferred toward the 
banker or speculator who bought the notes, and it was gravely 
proposed to Congress to pay to the holder of a note becoming 
due, when not the person to whom it was issued, not the face 
value, but only what he had paid for it, and to give the balance 
to the original holder of the note. No action was taken by 
the legislature on such a preposterous proposition ; but that it 
should have been presented at all showed the disturbed and 
distressed state of the public mind. They then requested the 
issue of paper money in large quantities without security, to be 
depreciated by law at a fixed rate, until, after a given period, 
it should be rendered entirely valueless. So wild a proposition 
failed in Congress, but it had many advocates. 

There had been no provision for the amendment of the State 
Constitution until 1795, and the dissatisfied taught the people 
that that was too long to wait ; that they had gone to war with 



GRIEVANCES OF THE FARMERS. 839 

Great Britain for a less cause, and that now, as then, there was 1786 
no redress except by revolution. They might easily have ef- 
fected a change by a convention called by the people, but this 
was not what the leaders wanted. There were real grievances 
which could have been redressed, but the leaders wanted the 
abolition of the courts and reforms to be made without legal 
methods being used. They began by counseling violence, and 
then by the use of mob law. The dissatisfied began to call 
meetings in the towns to discuss their grievances ; then more 
frequent conventions for the ostensible purpose of trying to 
find relief for their difficulties. These were at fii'st quiet and 
lawful assemblies, but the constant reiteration of real or fancied 
wrongs made them at last violent. They ridiculed or de- 
nounced the officers of the law, and tried to make the govern- 
ment contemptible in the eyes of the people, and from this to 
open violence was but a short step. 

The farmers thought trade should bear all the bm-dens of 
taxation, and that the land, which was almost the only pro- 
ducer, should be freed from taxes. The home-traders, as the 
medium of exchange between the farmer and the public, were 
sure that they should be relieved and the burden of the taxes 
be tlu'own upon some one else. Commerce to the farmer 
meant the importation of luxuries, for the idea was prominent 
then that the land should produce all that was needed for life 
and happiness, and what was not derived directly from it was 
not necessary, and therefore a luxury. During the war the 
fisheries, which previous to the war had brought in £167,000 
annually, and which in the island of Nantucket alone em- 
ployed one hundred and fifty vessels and twenty-five hundred 
men, had been neglected. At the time peace was declared the 
entire fleet consisted of only nineteen vessels. The farms 
could produce but little, as the men were in the army, and the 
women and children could not till the land on any lai-ge scale. 
The markets were to a great extent lost and must be re- 
gained ; but the farmers saw only the absence of the market, 
and attributed all the evils to the luxury induced by tlie im- 
portation of foreign materials, which resulted in draining 



340 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1786 from the country the resources which might be used at home. 
By the hiw of July 3, 1782, known as the " Tender Act," pri- 
vate debts had the precedence over pubhc ones, and were 
made payable in cattle or produce ; the appraisement was to 
be made by impartial judges under oath. It was so dra^vvn as 
to suspend suits for a period of twelve months. The idea of 
the originators was that it would prevent law-suits by making 
it possible to settle obligations in kind within a specified time, 
but its effect was to stimulate the antagonism between credi- 
tor and debtor and to stir up a strife between the rich and the 
poor. 

Following the precedent set at Great Barrington in 1774, 
the dissatisfied commenced by impeding the administration of 
justice by preventing the assembling of the courts, on the 
ground that all their grievances aud hardships arose from the 
deci^ions of these courts, and that they were justified in acting 
as they did liy the example of their countrymen of years ago. 
But the successful obstruction of the coiu'ts in 1774 was not 
done until after repeated remonstrances had been made and 
ever}' plan known for obtaining redress from the king and the 
royal governors had been tried ; while these men obstructed 
the courts before any means of redressing their grievances, 
which were perfectly open to them and would have succeeded 
if properly begun, had been tried. 

In the elections for the State legislature for 1786 the dis- 
tress was used for personal and political ends. Men of expe- 
rience and of conservative principles were defeated. They 
were replaced by those who knew nothing about government. 
Lawyers were defeated only becaiise they were lawyers, and 
for no other reason. When the legislature assembled propo- 
sitions of the most visionary character were made. It was 
recommended, among other things, to issue irredeemable paper 
money and to do other equally absiuxl and dangerous things, 
but they were fortunately voted down, and the legislature ad- 
jom'ned on July 15th without adopting any remedy. None 
had been seriously considered. The next step of the leaders 
was the caUing of conventions to discuss their grievances, and 



COUNTY CONVENTIONS. 841 

then to pu1)lish them to the people and make them call for re- 1786 
dress. They commenced by advising against all resort to force 
and unlawful measures. The conventions were at first reputa- 
ble gatherings of respectable people. Their fubninations, how- 
ever, influenced the prejudices and excited the passions of the 
dissatisfied, which was undoubtedly the effect which most of 
the leaders wished to produce. From respectable gatherings 
they came to be not only irregularly called meetings, but tu- 
multuous and unlawful assemblies. They incited to the use of 
mob law, and, if they did not council \dolence, produced it. The 
conservative and respectable people became so compromised 
by the dissatisfied that the meetings of both together were con- 
verted into a mere mob, and they acted as such. This increased 
the evils instead of diminishing them. The first convention 
called represented thirty- seven towns of Worcester County. It 
met at Leicester on August 15, 1786. Its very first act was to 
declare itself a lawful and constitutional assemblage. Eight 
causes of grievance were enumerated, which included the 
courts, the oificers of the State, and the payment of the public 
debt. The conservative journals generally exposed the fallacy 
of the grievances and the unprincipled character of the lead- 
ers, but this produced but little effect on the people. 

On August 22, 1786, a convention of fifty towns of Hamp- 
shire County, which at that time included Franklin and Hamp- 
den counties, was called at Hatfield, and passed in three days 
nineteen resolutions against the Senate, the courts, and almost 
all the forms of law, but ad\dsed the people to abstain from 
acts of mob violence. They resolved to publish their proceed- 
ings in other counties, and called on them also to hold conven- 
tions. The paper-money men were there in fuU force. The 
men who " had fought for liberty and meant to have it " were 
also represented. Their definition of liberty was, as given by 
one of themselves, "for every man to do as he pleases, and to 
make others do as you please to have them." They advocated 
the abolition of the com'ts, and voted themselves " a constitu- 
tional meeting." They advised the other counties to organize, 
and finished these proceedings by resolving that the people 



342 LIFE OF BIAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1786 oug-lit to abstain from all mobs or other unlawful assem- 
blies. It is fair to suppose that their proceedings had been 
dictated by a sincere desii-e to obtain by legal measures the 
redress they wanted, since some of those who attended and 
took part in the proceedings were members of the legislatiu'e 
and others were held in high respect by their fellow-townsmen ; 
but it is doubtful whether the majority did not mean open re- 
l)ellion from the fii'st, as all their proceedings were carried out 
in three days. This convention was held just before the ses- 
sions of the courts, and was intended to foster a feeling of con- 
tempt for them. When on the last Tuesday in August, four 
days after they adjourned, the courts were to sit in Northamp- 
ton, fifteen hundred men — a motley array, some of them 
armed with sticks, clubs, bludgeons, and others with swords or 
muskets — assembled to prevent the session of the Court of 
Common Pleas. Daniel Shays, a captain in the Revolutionary 
Ai'uiy of doubtful reputation, headed the insurgents. A large 
body also collected at Springfield to prevent the session of the 
com't there. They forced it to adjourn to Northampton until 
the second Tuesday in November, but it never met again until 
May, 1787, and the debt repudiators thus celebrated a great 
victory over the law. The governor on September 2d called 
on all good citizens to put down such treasonable proceedings. 
The newspapers, the clergy, and nearly all the best citizens sided 
with the governor, but it was of httle use. As soon as these 
disturbances commenced the local mihtia had been called out 
by the sheriff to protect the courts ; but it was soon found 
that they could not be rehed upon, as many of them sympa- 
thized with the rioters. The governor called the judges of the 
Supreme Court, the attorney-general, and others in council, 
and they determined to call out the State troops. 

The excitement which was prevalent in Worcester and 
Hampshu'e counties, and which had also prevented the sassion 
of the courts there, spread very quickly to the other parts of 
the State. It went west to Berkshire and east to Middlesex 
and Bristol counties. The notice which had been taken of 
the convention in Hampshire and the notoriety produced for 



THE LENOX CONVENTION. 343 

its leaders emboldened them and encouraged their followers. 1786 
While this was going on throughunt the State a county con- 
vention was called to meet in Lenox during the last week of 
August. The people of Berkshire and the other counties of 
the State as well had always been used to open and free dis- 
cussion. The town meeting had been their safety-valve, the 
county convention their strongest method of asserting their 
rights, and they had resisted from the very commencement 
any encroachment on them by the royal governors. When 
the Constitution of 1780 was proposed they discussed it, both 
before and after they adopted it, and in the six years since it 
had been in force had learned to have confidence both in the 
laws and the law-makers, since the law was dependent upon 
their own voices in the town meetings and their votes in elec- 
tions. They had suffered too long from the use of violent 
means to willingly have recourse to them again, so that when 
the call came for a county convention they went to the polls 
almost to a man, and the majority of the towns elected as their 
representatives the moderate and conservative men. When 
the convention convened the malcontents were met by wise 
and able men, who were in the majority. They argued with 
the more impetuous on their own ground. They not only 
out-reasoned, but they out-voted them, so that this convention 
was not characterized by the violent and unreasonable acts 
which were so marked a feature of some of the others. They 
pledged themselves as a body in the most solemn manner to 
support the courts in the exercise of their legal powers and to 
endeavor to quiet the agitated spirits of the people. Among 
the most prominent of the conservatives in this convention 
was Major-Geueral Paterson, who was then, as he always had 
been, one of the most strenuous in endeavoring to right wrongs 
by strictly legal methods. This convention undoubtedly pre- 
vented many dissatisfied persons in adjoining counties from 
joining the forces under the agitators, because it was made 
plain to them that their grievances could all be remedied by 
proper recoui'se to law, that the necessary legislation would 
take some time, and that the people had the power to act 



344 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1786 themselves tlirongii their properly constituted representa- 
tives. 

On September 5th the judges at Worcester were prevented 
by three hundred armed men from holding coui't, which was 
to have been held in the court-house. A proclamation by the 
governor called on the people to sustain the coui-ts. The 
chief -justice remonstrated with the rioters, but they forced the 
Court of Common Pleas to adjourn sine die and the Court of 
Sessions to adjom-n to November 21st. The day after the con- 
vention at Hatfield a convention of representatives of a major- 
ity of the towns in Middlesex County was held, and adopted 
similar resolutions. The next attempt to prevent the sitting 
of the coiu'ts was at Concord on Septemlier 12th. The citizens 
on September 9th had protested against such disorderly pro- 
ceedings, and the militia were called out by the governor on 
September 8th to defend the courts in Middlesex and Bristol ; 
but on the representation of the people that they were not 
needed, the judges, fearing a popular attack, countermanded 
the order for the assembling of the militia for the protection 
of the courts, as the citizens agreed to protect them. The 
rioters, who were few in number, were so emboldened by this 
order that they siu-rouuded and took possession of the com*t- 
house in Concord and threatened to kill all persons who did 
not join them. They were violent in their abuse of the courts 
and the judges, and allowed the court to sit ouly on the con- 
dition of its adjourning to a fixed date. The com*t left the 
town the same afternoon, and the rioters dispersed. 

In Taunton, in the County of Bristol, the coiu*t was to as- 
semble on the 12th. The chief-justice. General Cobb, had 
been a military officer of distinction during the Revolution, 
and was then a major-general of the State. He took posses- 
sion of the court-house with a field-piece and thirty gentlemen 
volunteers. When the insurgents came up he told tliem that 
he would " sit as a judge or die as a general." Knowing that 
he would do as he said, they dispersed without preventing the 
session of the court ; but in view of the gi*eat agitation it was 
deemed advisable to adjourn, and the court did so. 

The resolutions of the Lenox convention so recently passed 



STOPPING THE COURTS AT GREAT BARRINGTON. 345 

did not restrain a mob of eight hundred men at Great Bar- 1786 
rington, who prevented the session of the Court of Common 
Pleas and compelled tkree of the fom* judges to sign a paper 
that they would not act as a court until all the grievances had 
been redi-essed. They broke open the jail, set the prisoners free, 
and committed other acts of violence. The documents below, 
giving the orders of General Paterson and the account sent to 
the governor of the State, give the details of what happened : 

* "Lenox, September 10, 1786. 
" Sir : In eonseqiience of special orders from the Governor and Com- 
mander-in-Chief of this Commonwealth to me directed, requesting the 
Militia of this County to be called upon to support the Court which is to 
sit at Great Barrington on Tuesday next, you are therefore directed to 
order every (man) in your regiment to appear with their arms complete 
at Great Barrington on Tuesday next at 9 o'clock in the morning. 
"N.B. — The alarm list to be excluded. 

"I am, sir, your humble servant, 

"John Paterson, Major-General, 

" 9th Division Militia. 
"To Colonel Caleb Hyde." 

Among others Colonel Ashley rephed to this order from 
Sheffield : 

t "Sheffield, 1786. 
" Gen John Paterson. 

" In obedience to your orders I have called upon the several companies 
in the Regt. under my command for their respective quota of men. The 
number were without difficulty collected in this place. The ammunition 
will be expended by tomorrow evening. We wish for your directions in 
which manner they shall be supplied. Ammimition is also wanted for 
the troops from Sandisfield and New Marlborough. 

" Yours respectfully 

"John Ashley 
" To {Gen Paterson) " " (Col) 

Exactly what happened is given in the letter below : 

t " Lenox 13th Septemr 1786. 
'' Sir : I am to inform your excellency as nearly as I can, of the trans- 
actions of stopping the Courts of General sessions of the Peace & Courts 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxL, p. 241. 

t From MS. in possession of Mr. Wm. Benjamin. 

X Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxc, p. 263. 



346 LIFE OF 3IAJ0R-GENEEAL JOHN" PATERSON. 

1786 of Common Pleas in the County of Berkshire upon the 12tli day of Sep- 
tember instant. 

"Previous to the day on which the Court were to set, there appeared 
to be great uneasiness among the people : & that large numbers were 
preparing to stop the Courts. I made every neeessarj' preparation for 
supporting Government that lay in my power without calling out the 
Militia — On Saturday evening before the Courts were to set I received 
your Excellency's letter of the 2d of instant September — I immediately 
applied to Major General Paterson, consulted him & a number of other 
Gentlemen on the Subject of calling out the Militia under arms in Sup- 
port of Government, it was agreed to call out the Militia. General Pater- 
son issued his oi'ders accordingly which I transmit a copy of. On monday 
evening before the time of the Courts sitting, the Court house was filled 
with armed men in opposition to Government. On tuesday evening the 
militia under the order of General Paterson marched into Great Barring- 
ton much the greatest part of which joined those in opposition to govern- 
ment at the Court House — by this time the Court arrived & seeing such 
an opposition to Law, recommended General Paterson to embody the men 
for the Courts sitting on one side & to have those against its sitting 
on the other side of the highway which was immediately done — about 
150 or 200 men appeared for the Courts sitting & seven or eight hundred 
men were against it. Then the Court opened and adjourned without day, 
this step being taken raised the Spirits of the People against the Courts 
to such a Degree that they determined to bring the Judges to their terms, 
as they call — They immediately moved to Judge Wliitings house where 
the Judges were — di'ew up an instrument or declaration for them to sign, 
the purport of which is that they would not act as Judges of the Court 
of Common Pleas imtil the Constitution of Government shall be revised 
or a new one made — Judge "Wliiting, Barker & Goodrich signed it, Judge 
Woodhridge refused & declared in preference to signing such a peice he 
would resign his Commission — 

" Those people in opposition to Law proceeded to the Goal broke open 
the door, set the confined debtors at liberty, left the Town of Great Bar- 
rington the same day — in this disagreeable situation we now are — this 
I think to be a candid representation of the transactions of the whole 
matter relative to the Courts being stopped in the County of Berkshire 

"Which is transmitted to your excellency by 

" your most obedient & humble Servant 

"Caleb Hyde Sheriff. 
"His excellency 

" James Bowdoin esqr." 

In Boston, on September 11th, the citizens assembled and 
assured the governor in the most emphatic way that whatever 



STOPPAGE OF THE COURTS AT SPRINGFIELD. 347 

came they would support the legally constituted authorities. 1786 
On the 20th of September four huudi-ed armed men in New- 
Hampshire surrounded the legislature, but were put down by 
the citizens. The General Court had adjourned from July, 
1786, to the last of January, 1787, but such riots in Massachu- 
setts and in New Hampshire caused the governor to call it 
earlier, and he had convened it for the 18th of October. He 
now determined to call it three weeks earlier. 

In the meantime the rioters made up their minds to pre- 
vent the sessions of the Supreme Court at Springfield, which 
was to sit on September 26th. The insurgents determined 
that the court should not be held, as if it were thej^ would be 
indicted for treason. The friends of law and order deter- 
mined that the court should be held, and be protected in any 
event and at whatever cost. Both parties meant what they 
said. The governor ordered the court-house to be protected 
by six hundred men. On the day the court opened Daniel 
Shays, who had been a captain of doubtful reputation in the 
Revolution toward its close, though he had shown great 
personal bravery at Bunker Hill and Stony Point, who had 
for causes unknown resigned his commission, and was then 
bankrupt, appeared with an armed force. Shays demanded 
of the coiu't that none of the late rioters should be condemned 
by it. The coui't replied that the judges would execute the 
laws. The court had assembled on Tuesday, and by Wednes- 
day there were two thousand men under arms, and but little 
business could therefore be transacted. On Thursday, Sep- 
tember 29th, the court adjourned. Before doing so it decided 
that it was not expedient to hold court in Berkshu-e County 
at that time, which the rioters interpreted as a great victory 
for them. The rioters, emboldened by theii* success, then de- 
termined to secure the federal arsenal at Springfield, but were 
dissuaded from attacking it, and after four days both parties 
left. The rioters, under pretense that the court intended to 
go to Great Barrington, notwithstanding theu* resolution not 
to do so, went there and committed a number of riotous acts. 
The governor called a special meeting of the legislature for 



348 LIFE OF ilAJOR-GENEEAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1786 September 27tli to consider the disturbed state of public af- 
fairs. The town of Springfield instructed theii" representa- 
tives " to vote against any proposition for a paper currency, 
and when all that is possible has been done to relieve the 7'e(d 
burdens, to state as clearly as possible what mistakes have 
been made, in order to remove the imaginary as well as the 
real grievances." When the legislature assembled the gov- 
ernor stated to them the facts in relation to the riots, and 
proposed the suppression of the rebellion. Conventions and 
towns presented their grievances, but the legislature deter- 
mined to support the governor and to defend the sessions of 
the court at Cambridge, and did so. The governor ordered a 
parade of over two thousand troops in the town, which dem- 
onstration prevented the riots from taking place there. The 
rioters had demanded that the General Court should sit else- 
where than in Boston. The General Com*t voted that it would 
remove to some other place as soon as it could be done con- 
sistently with the pubhc interest. On October 28th they pro- 
posed a law against riots and unlawful assemblies. The more 
conservative citizens wanted a suspension of the habeas corpus 
act. The court considered it, but delayed action. The citi- 
zens became alarmed at what they considered unnecessary de- 
lay. This the rioters made the most of, and actually succeeded 
in convincing some worthy persons that a revolution was nec- 
essary in order to remove from their places men who only tem- 
porized with serious difficulties ; so that the ranks of the rioters 
were increased by it. On October 23d a circular letter was 
sent by Shays to all the towns in Hampshire County, asking 
them " to see that the citizens be armed and that the militia 
be furnished with six hundred rounds of ammunition." The 
governor reported these facts to tlie General Court on Novem- 
ber 7th as conclusive evidence that there was a serious and 
active rebellion. The danger was so great that the Superior 
Judicial Court was empowered to try all persons guilty of ob- 
structing the administration of the laws, and on November 
10th they suspended the habeas corpus act for eight months. 
In hopes of appeasing the rioters, all persons guilty of riot or 



ACTION OF THE GENERAL COURT. 349 

treasonable practices against the State from January 1st were 1786 
granted a free pardon if they took the oath of allegiance. 

The amnesty offered having been rejected, warrants were is- 
sued for the apprehension of the leaders in Middlesex County, 
and a party of horse was ordered to start from Boston on No- 
vember 29th to support the sheriff, and three of the leaders 
were arrested. After this Shays went to Rutland and remained 
there until December 30th, when he returned to Worcester. 

The Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the 
Peace had been adjourned in Hampshire County to Deceml^er 
26th, those in Berkshire to the first Tuesday in February, and 
those in Plymouth and Boston were also adjourned. This 
brought the first term of the court to Cambridge, which was 
protected, as described above, by being near Boston. The 
Court of General Sessions of the Peace sat at Worcester 
November 21st, which was a som-ce of gi*eat grievance to the 
rioters. An address was sent out by the General Court to the 
people, which stated the amount of the Fedei'al and State 
debts. The expenditures were carefully given and compared 
with those of the times of the provinces. The debt was shown 
to be comparatively small. It was made apparent that the 
complaints and acts of the rioters were likely to occur under 
any form of government, and the use of foreign luxuries was 
discouraged. The officers of the government and the people 
were called on to maintain the constituted authorities and the 
administration of justice. The General Court had thus done 
all that it could. It made taxes payable in specific articles, 
real and personal estate a tender for executions, and law pro- 
cedure was made much less expensive. It adjourned on No- 
vember 18th, sure that it had done all that it could and the 
people would be satisfied, but they did not vote sufficient 
money to meet the expenses of dealing successfully with the 
insurrection. The rioters ascribed all these acts to fear. They 
laughed at the offer of pardon, and the suspension of the lia- 
heas corpus became a greater giievance than ever. Immedi- 
ately after the adjournment of the General Court a conven- 
tion was called at Worcester. On the 23d of November they 



350 LIFE. OF aiAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON, 

1787 sent an address to the people, in which all the acts, even the 
adjom-niug of the courts, which they had demanded, were held 
up as grievances, and these acts as bringing the com*t into 
contempt. "When the Court of G-eneral Sessions of the Peace 
came to sit on the 22d in Worcester, as the government relied 
on the acts of the last General Court to appease the people, 
no precaution had been taken to protect it. One hundi"ed and 
fifty men armed with hickory clubs and bayonets entered the 
town and billeted themselves on the people ; they filled the 
court-house and would not allow the judges to enter, and pre- 
vented any business, either public or private, being done. The 
judges were obliged to sit in a tavern. On December 27th 
Shays, with three hundred and fifty men, prevented the ses- 
sion of the Com-t of Common Pleas in Springfield. The at- 
tack was so unexpected that the citizens, immediately after it 
happened, organized a strong military force for the purpose 
of defense. The governor did not hear of this attack until 
January 1st. As soon as he heard of these outrages he ordered 
the nine major-generals of the State to organize and equip the 
militia and take the field. Citizens in Middlesex County under- 
took to agree that no forces on either side should appear 
in Cambridge when the session of the court was to be held ; 
but the insurgents would not agree to it, and they marched on 
Cambridge, but liecame discouraged and disheartened before 
they reached there. 

The governor did not have the means of sustaining even a 
single regiment in the field, but the emergency was met by the 
capitalists and business men of Boston, who, realizing the 
danger, came forward with a loan to the State, trusting to 
future legislation to reimburse them. The loan was accepted, 
and orders issued for the raising and equipment of four thou- 
sand five hundred men. Public sentiment, as soon as these 
facts were known, changed at once and took the side of the 
law and order party. 

The governor advised the judges of the courts at Worcester 
to adjourn them to January 23d, which they did. Shays by 
December 6th had collected about one thousand men ; Init as 



STOPPAGE OF THE COURTS AT SPRINGFIELD. 351 

the courts liad adjourned tliere was nothing- to do, and the 1787 
agitation was transferred to Hampshire County ; and on De- 
cember 7th addi*esses were sent to the different towns, one by 
the " chairman of the Committee," and one by one of the lead- 
ers, reciting the grievances and asking for sympathy and 
support. The more reckless of the leaders liastened to march 
to Boston to release the imprisoned rioters, so that the gov- 
ernor ordered the troops of Middlesex County to be in readi- 
ness. The weather was very cold, and the action of the gov- 
ernor prevented the insurgents from going to Boston, so that 
they left Worcester on December 9th, Shays and a large body 
of men going to Rutland. They were not welcomed, and many 
froze or starved to death. They excited so much pity that 
Shays was asked if he would abandon the rebellion and retire 
if a pardon was granted to him, and he replied, ''Yes, in a mo- 
ment." One was made out, but no opportunity was found of 
delivering it to him. He subsequently determined to prevent 
the session of the courts at Springfield on December 26th. 
The agitation in Hampshire County, which had for some time 
been insurrectionary, now assumed the form of open rebell- 
ion. Shays marched into the town with three hundred men 
and took possession of the court-house and sent a petition to 
the court not to transact business, to which they perforce con- 
sented, and he left the court-house. On January 1st the gov- 
ernor heard that the insurgents were going to Worcester on 
the 23d, and he determined to support the courts there at any 
cost. Forty-four hundi-ed men were ordered from five coun- 
ties, together with four companies of artillery, to meet in Bos- 
ton on the 18th and 19th of January, to be on duty for thirty 
days. The Hampshire quota of twelve hundred men was or- 
dered to Springfield under General Shepard. The eastern 
militia were to meet in Roxbury and to join the Worcester 
forces at Worcester, which they did on the 22d, when order 
was restored. On the 12th of January the governor issued an 
address to the people, in which he stated the whole case im- 
partially, asking the assistance of all good citizens in the Com- 
monwealth. On the 19th of January, 1787, he issued orders 



852 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON, 

1787 to Major-General Lincoln, putting him in command of the 
military and empowering him, if he thought necessary, to call 
on the other major-generals for assistance. Besides this, the 
Council gave to the general the fullest possible powers. The 
appearance of a large armed force in the east had prevented 
any fui-tlier demonstrations there, but the comparative im- 
munit}' in the western part of the State made the insurgents 
there so bold that General Shepard was ordered to take pos- 
session of Springfield at once. Here he collected eleven hun- 
dred men to defend the town and the arsenal, which the men 
under Shays' command expected to seize on the 24th. Eleven 
hundred men were marshaled under Shays, who had just 
reached Wilbraham on his march from Rutland. A part of 
Lincoln's troops were less than two days' march in the rear of 
Shays. Four hundred men and boys, well armed and well 
drilled, were assembled on the western side of the river at 
West Springfield under Day. There was a good ice bridge 
over the river at the time, so that he was within easy reach 
of the arsenal. Four hundred more from Berkshire under 
Eli Parsons were at Chicopee in the northern part of the 
town. The insurgent force was nearly double that of General 
Shepard. 

On his march toward Springfield General Lincoln wi'ote to 
General Paterson at Lenox : 

"Marlboro', Jan'y 22d, 1787, 
"To Major General Paterson. 

" Sir ; You will before this have received the Governors orders to hold 
your Division in readiness to march on the shortest notice ; if in your 
opinion a body of four hundred men can be detached from your Division, 
without endangering the general interests, you will in that case imme- 
diately detach, to remain in service for the term of 30 days, unless sooner 
discharged, one Colonel, one Lt. Colonel, 1 Major, eight Captains, 16 
Subalterns, thirty-two Sargents, thirty-two Corporals, four hundred rank 
and file ; — & direct them to rendezvous at sxich place as shall be most 
convenient within the limits of your own Division. If such rendezvous 
shall be nearer to Springfield than your o->\ti dwelling, you will in that 
case direct the Commanding Otficer of the men detached to marcli to 
Springfield, the moment he shall receive information from General Shep- 
ard, that the Insurgents have embodied and march toward Worcester & 



ORDERS OF GENERAL LINCOLN. 353 

made it necessary he should follow them, & take possession of the public 1787 
buildings & cover the magazine there, imtil fm-ther orders. In case you 
are nearer to Springfield than the place of Rendezvous, you will please on 
reeei\-ing information from General Shepard, that the Insurgents have 
embodied, & that he must follow them with his detachment, you will 
order the Regiment detached by you to march to Springfield & take pos- 
session of the j)ublic buildings, there, & remain as a cover to the maga- 
zine imtill further orders ; you will please to direct that youi- detachment 
march well-armed with flint-locks, whose Calibers shall carry as near as 
possible 18 balls to the pound, with bayonets, cartridge boxes & 30 rounds 
of cartridge, suitable to their fii'e-arms, blankets, carteens & ha\Tesacs 
with provision sufficient to supply them on the road to Springfield. You 
will please to cause that the Selectmen be reminded, of the several tow^ls, 
of their obligations, by law to supply the men with Camp-Utensils, car- 
riages & to forward pro"vision to them untill they shall receive informa- 
tion from the Commissary General or his Deputy, that such supplies, are 
no longer necessary. You would have been early called upon for men, 
had it not been the opinion, of the Governor & Council, that you could 
not make a detachment from your Di%ision, consistent vrith safety to the 
well-aflfected. I shall think myself obliged to you for such information 
of the movements of the Insurgents, as you think necessary for me to be 
acquainted -nith. 

'• I have the honor of being 

" Dear Sir with real Esteem 

"Your obedt. servt. 

" B. Lincoln." * 

On the 23d he again writes : 

" "Worcester, Jan'y 23d, 1787. 
"To Major General John Paterson. 

"Dear Sir : Should the Insurgents move in force fi'om your County, 
to this side the river, you will please to follow them with as great a 
force, as you can draw from your Di^-ision, ■without leaving unsuppoi-ted 
the well affected in your part of the Country ; & to march to Springfield, 
& there imite yom* force with Major General Shepard, to cover the Jlaga- 
zine ; and should the Insurgents move in any force, toward this quarter, 
or any other, you will with as great a body as you can spare with security 
to the Arsenal, progress after them. 

" I have the honor of being 

" Dear Sir with real Esteem 

"Your obedt. servt. 

"B. Lincoln." f- 

* Communicated by S. T. Crosby, Esq., of Boston. 
+ Ihul. 



354 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 Luke Day of West Springfield was undoubtedly the ablest 
of all the leaders of the rebellion. He had served honorably 
during the Revolution and had retired j)oor. He had been 
a captain, but was given the brevet rank of a major at the 
close of the war. He was a fluent speaker, and by constantly 
talking about his own and their " grievances " to his " fellow- 
sufferers" had convinced himself and them that there were some 
great wrongs to be redressed. He became popular with his 
townspeople and commenced to drill those who agreed with 
him, who were at first armed only with clubs, but afterward 
with muskets. By force of flattery from others and constantly 
hearing himself talk, he had become convinced that he had a 
gi'eat mission to perform. He was a man much superior to 
Shays, and it was only by an accident that he had not become 
the recognized leader of the rebellion. He clearly considered 
himself to be the superior man, and was undoubtedly so, and 
he evidently thought that the success of the present undertak- 
ing, of which he seemed to be certain, would be owing to his 
direction of it. He was, however, like many others before 
and since, a victim of the disease, or rather moral weakness, 
of " cacoethes loquendV He kept the town in a constant state 
of alarm by seizing respectable citizens in their own houses, to 
be held as hostages and for purposes of retaliation. 

Shays on the 24tli sent a message from Wilbraham to Day, 
asking him to co-operate with him in an attack the next day 
at 4 A.M. Day replied that he coidd not do so on the 25th, but 
would do so on the 26th. This letter was intercepted by Gen- 
eral Shepard, but Shays knew nothing of it. Day then sent a 
summons to General Shepard to sm-reuder and disperse. The 
same day Shays sent a petition from Wilbraham to General 
Lincoln, who was two days' march distant, asking for a sus- 
pension of all hostilities until the next General Com't coidd 
settle all their dif&culties, which was evidently only a blind, as 
General Lincoln was still two days' march from Springfield. 
He did not wait for an answer. On the afternoon of the 25th 
Shays, in ignorance of the interception of his letter to Day, 
who evidently thought that he was going to capture the whole 



THE ATTACK ON SPRESTGFIELD, 855 

command of General Sliepard independently of Shays and 1787 
wished to get the whole credit for it himself, was ordered by 
General Shepard, who had been notified of Shays' departure 
from Wilbraham, to fall back, but his reply was that they in- 
tended to take the barracks, and he marched to within two 
hundred and fifty yards of it. General Shepard sent a mes- 
senger to Shays informing him that he was posted where he 
was by the orders of the governor and of Congress, and again 
ordered him to faU back, stating that if he did not do so at 
once he should fire on him. Some old army comrades went 
out to meet Shays and advised him to lay down his arms and 
abandon his treason, but though he received them pleasantly 
he declined to stop. As he still advanced, the general ordered 
his troops to fire the cannon, but over the heads of the insurg- 
ents, and two volleys were so fii-ed ; but this only increased 
their confidence, and they continued to advance. A discharge 
of artillery fired low sent his men flying in all directions with- 
out fii'ing a single shot, crying, '* Murder ! " from tlieu* rear, 
and leaving three of theii' number dead upon the field. The 
precipitate retreat of the insurgents, which Shays was unable 
to stop until they had gone more than ten miles, stopped the 
affray. They were not pursued, as the object was to terrify 
rather than to kill the rebels. This ended what might have 
been a most disastrous conflict. Shays had the larger num- 
ber of men, but was very poorly officered. General Shepard 
had an inferior number, but was very well officered. 

How near this movement of the rebel leader came to being 
successful is shown by an extract from a letter of General 
Schuyler to Henry C. Van Schaack, then a resident of Pitts- 
field, dated February 7th : 

" Mr. Shays seems to me to want a good head : I think he should not 
have appeared in the vicinity of General Shepard without having first 
concerted with his other leaders a plan of attack. To leave that adjust- 
ment to the last moment was injudicious, and with irregular troops it 
seems to me that he should have attempted to dislodge General Shepard 
at the dawn of day ; but tant mievx pour nous, for Heaven only knows 
what would have been the consequence if Shays had gained a victor j'." 



356 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

3787 The result of the confliet might have been very different 
liad they really fought, and if Shays had taken the arsenal 
there is no doubt but much blood would have been shed. 
General Shepard feared another attack, but the men under 
Day did nothing. He was intensely irritated at the failure, 
and remained at West Springfield entirely inactive. On the 
27th the troops of General Lincoln arrived. There was then 
no further danger of an attack upon General Shepard, but 
Day was cut off from communications with the west and Shays 
with the north. Notwithstanding the cold and fatigue of his. 
troops, who were wearj^ from their long march. General Lin- 
coln ordered the army under arms at 4 p.m. on the 27th — 
tlie day he arrived — after a rest of only one hour. He went 
over on the ice to caj^ture Day, who hastily retreated. Hi& 
flight left his men to shift for themselves, and they offered 
little resistance, but retreated north so hastily that they left, 
their half-cooked meals on the fire and their bread in the 
ovens and ran, leaving the road to Northampton strewed with 
their nmskets and knapsacks. His junction with Shays was 
prevented by General Shepard. In the meantime General 
Lincoln had marched to capture Shays, who fled to Amherst 
in such confusion that his party mistook their own rear- guard 
for the soldiers of General Lincoln. As the result of this vic- 
tory, the Middlesex militia, two thousand in number, wha 
were entering Worcester, Avere ordered back. They had pro- 
duced all the effect that was necessary by the exhibition of 
their military power. Shays, who went plundering provisions^ 
fled to Pelham and took shelter among the hills. It was found 
that in his retreat he had carried many men from the town 
and ten sleigh-loads of provisions with him. A small party 
of General Shepard's men who had been captured were re- 
taken, with fifty-nine of the insurgents and nine sleigh-loads 
of provisions. On January 30th General Lincoln sent a letter 
to Shays, demanding sun-ender. Shays rephed, asking that 
both of the armies remain where they were, pending a presen- 
tation of the difficulties to the General Court. This was fol- 
lowed by a letter from three other of Shays' leaders. On the: 



ACTION OF THE GENERAL COURT. 357 

31st General Lincoln replied that he could not admit their 1787 
claims, and ordered them to disband under risk of being im- 
mediately attacked, but offered pardon to privates and non- 
commissioned officers who would lay down their arms and 
take the oath of allegiance. The time had arrived for the 
General Court to assemble, but affau's were in such confusion 
that the members could not be collected until February 3d, 
the fourth day after the day to which they had adjourned. 
The governor rehearsed the situation to them. 

There was considerable delay in reaching the business of 
the session, because petitions for the redress of aU kinds of 
grievances were sent in from many different towns who 
commenced to see that their cause was hopeless. After some 
discussion they declared a state of rebelhon to exist, ap- 
proved of the action of the governor and of General Lincoln, 
voted the supplies necessary for the army, empowered the 
government to pardon privates and non-commissioned officers 
on condition of giving up their arms and swearing the oath 
of allegiance. A petition from Shays, dated Pelham, January 
30, 1787, was received, which was really in the shape of a 
claim for a treaty backed by two thousand men, in order 
to get advantageous terms for themselves, and the court de- 
clared that it could not be received. Shays, afraid of further 
desertions of his men, did not wait at PeDiam to hear the result 
of the court's decision, but marched to Petersham on February 
3d, as a number of the towns in that vicinity had promised to 
support him. An officer of his the same day asked an inter- 
view vnth. an officer of the army vntli a view to obtaining par- 
don for all the principals, but did not wait for an answer. 
General Lincoln heard of the march to Petersham the same 
day at noon at Hadley. It was supposed at fii'st that this was 
only a feint, but orders were at once given for the army to be 
ready to march at a moment's notice with three days' pro\d- 
sions. Intelligence was received at 6 p.m. which made it cer- 
tain that Shays' movement was a retreat, and the necessary 
orders were issued at once to march, and at 8 p.m., January 
27th, the army moved. The weather was very cold when the}' 



358 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON, 

1787 started. At 2 a.m. a violent wind, with a snow-storm, arose. 
It was so bitterly cold that they had to march, for their only 
safety was in motion. They marched the whole distance, 
thirty miles, to Petersham, which the advance reached at 9 a.m. 
the next morning, the rear being five miles distant. The in- 
surgents in the meantime were housed and warm, and felt 
perfectly secm-e. The surprise was complete. They aban- 
doned the town by the back road in complete confusion, 
hardly fii-ing a gun. They were pursued about two miles, and 
one hundred and fifty taken prisoners, but no blood was shed. 
Shays with three hundred of his men retreated to Winchester, 
New Hampshire. Others, including the principal officers, fled 
into New York and Vermont, while some, convinced that the 
cause was hopeless, went back to their own homes. The pri- 
vates among the prisoners were disarmed, and those who took 
the oath of allegiance received passports to return to their 
several towns. 

He immediately wrote to General Paterson countermanding 
his instructions of Januar}^ 22d and 23d : 

" Sprikgfield, Jan'y 28th, 1787. 
"To Major General Paterson. 

"Dear Sir: I have the pleasure to inform you, from the dispersed 
state of the Insurgents, a greater force, than are now on the ground, will 
be unnecessary. You will therefore please to suffer your troops to re- 
turn, & if their remaining in arms should not be necessary to preserve 
the peace of your own county, you will suffer them to return to their 
several homes. I expect that we shall soon move a considerable force, 
which came on with me, into your County. If the whole of the troops 
should not be with you, you will send a copy of this letter to them, with 
orders for them to return also. 

' ' I have the honor of being 

" Dr Sir with sincere Esteem 

"Your obt Servt. 

"B. Lincoln."* 

In the meantime the insiu'gents in Berkshu*e County were 
becoming troublesome. General Paterson did not always find 
himself supported by the majority, and wrote to General Lin- 

* Collection of S. T. Crosby, Esq., of Boston. 



THE INSURRECTION IN BERKSHIRE COUNTY. 359 

coin for instructions and reinforcements. The letters and re- 1787 
plies are given below : 

" Stockbridge, January 29, 1787. 

" Sir : This morning I had the pleasure to receive your favor of yester- 
day by Mr. Cook, my express. I most sincerely congratulate you on the 
happy prospects which are before us in aristocration of legal and consti- 
tutional Government. There have been some days, and indeed ever since 
I have been here, a number of men hovering around me, threatening my 
troops and annoying the peaceable inhabitants. I this afternoon have 
formed an expedition against them, which has been executed with suc- 
cess. I have in my possession eighty-four prisoners, and the residue of 
the party are wholly dispersed. It has been this evening in contempla- 
tion with a number of gentlemen to apprehend the leaders of the insur- 
rection who have dared to stimulate to rebellion the ignorant and thought- 
less, but feared to risk their own persons in the conflict ; but it is thought 
prudent to omit it, until your Honor arrives with the power of Govern- 
ment. General Eossiter, who is a virtuous citizen, a good officer, and 
has been ser\'iceable in the business of this day, will have the honor to 
hand you this, and every information you may need he is capable of com- 
mmiicating. 

" I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, 

"Your obedient serv*, 

"John Paterson. 

"N.B. — If you should find it consistent with your plans and circum- 
stances to send on a body of troops from your Command to this County, I 
wish it might be done immediately, as you are sensible we have hitherto 
been much the weakest party, and perhaps the business of this day will 
raise the spirits of the Insurgents, to the disadvantage of some good 
people. 

"I have three hundred men or upwards in good spirits, shall be obliged 
to keep them embodied until your troops arrive. Captain Bacon, who ac- 
companies General Rossiter, is a respectable gentleman and a staunch 
friend to Government. <, j^^^^ Paterson. * 

" Stockbridge, January 29, 1787. 

On the 31st, finding that the insurgents from different parts 
of the country proposed to make a junction and attack in a 
body, he wrote again to General Lincoln : 

nrr r^ 7 r • 7 " STOCKBRIDGE, Jftuuary 31, 1787. 

" To General Lnicohi : ' j ' 

" Sir : The desperation of the factions in this County against Govern- 
ment has induced a kind of frenzy, the effects of which have been a most 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxc, p. 338. 



360 LIFE OF i\IAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 industrious propagation of falsehood and misrepresentation of facts, and 
the consequent agitation of the minds of the deluded multitude. 

"Last night, by express from several parts of the County, I am in- 
form6<:I of insurrections taking place. My only security under present 
circumstances "will he attempting to prevent a junction of the insurg- 
ents, which probably cannot be effected without the effusion of blood ; 
to extricate me from this disagreeable situation, therefore, I pray you, 
Sir, to send to my aid a sufficient force to prevent the necessity of adopt- 
ing that measure. 

"I am. Sir, with much Esteem, 

" Your most obedient servant, 

"John Paterson, Major-General."* 

In reply to General Paterson's first letter General Lincoln 
replied by conrier, consrratnlating him and giving special di- 
rections for the treatment of his prisoners : 

"Hadley, January 31, 1787. 
" To Major-General Paterson. 

"Dear Sir : I am this moment honored with the receipt of your favor 
of the 29th. I congratulate you on our late success. I have no doubt 
but we shall have it in our power in a short time to disperse the people 
now in arms against the Government, and that if the Legislature in their 
present session shall act with decision and firmness we shall effectually 
crush the present Eebellion. Whether this is done or not must depend 
upon the General Court, for if they should not declare a rebellion to exist 
and make pro\dsions to keep iip a force imtil the heads of the insurg- 
ents and their abettors are apprehended, tried, and punished, these 
Counties will be in a more miserable state than before, for I have no 
doubt if the Insurgents were now dispersed and we returned that they 
would again embody, in which case our friends would be more exposed 
than ever. 

" If among the insurgents there are any youth or simple men in j'ears, 
who, from the want of the means of information or from the want of 
abilities to apply to right objects the information they do receive, such 
persons I think might be permitted to return to their several homes, after 
giving up their arms (such men ought not at present to hold them) & 
taking the oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth. 

" Those of another Class who have known better than they have acted 
& are now so convinced of their error, as that their liberation, under 
bond, may not be dangerous to the well affected, they I think might also 
be liberated on taking the oaths; There are another class, who, I think 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxc, p. 339. 



THE INSURRECTION IN BERKSHIRE COUNTY. 861 

should Ije committed by a warrant from a Justice of tlie Peace being too 1787 
inimical to be at large. 

" I am fully in sentiment with you, that you should not at present, 
attempt the arresting the most dangerous characters. 

" Shays has pushed himself into Pelliam where he has the strongest 
ground. I hope however that we shall have it in oiu- power soon to dis- 
lodge him : it would be too gi-eat a division of our force to detach at 
present ; the earliest opportunity will be embraced for doing it. 

" You must I think be perfectly secure by keeping your men together 
as the Insurgents cannot now collect in force without your knowledge & 
may be taken in detachment. 

" You may assure all the privates in your division that if they will sur- 
render themselves, give up their arms & take the oath of allegiance to 
the State before some Justice of the Peace in your County that they will 
be recommended to pardon 

"I have the honor of being 

"Dear Sir with real Esteem 

"Your obedt Serv 

cirj, r^ 1 -n ^ » "B. Lincoln.* 

"To Genl Paterson." 

As General Paterson's second letter made it necessary for 

General Lincoln to change his plans, he wi'ote to the governor 

as follows : 

" Head Quarters Hadley, Feby 1, 1787. 

"Dear Sir: I have just now been honored with the receipt of your 
Excellency's favor of the 25th Ulto 

" Since mine of the 30th Ulto by Mr Rice I have ree'd two letters No 1 
& No 2 from Genl Paterson ; they with my answers No 3 & No 4 I have 
the honor of enclosing. I have daily addresses from Towns, paper No 5 
is one from Granby, since that T have rec'd the doings of a town meeting 
in New Braintree paper No 6 is an answer to those Towns & the spirit 
of my answers to others : Paper No 7 is an application from Shaj'S ; No 8 
is my answer. 

"1 wait with a degree of impatience for such weather as will permit 
my reconnoitering Shays' post, which as I observed before is a very strong 
one ; every exertion will be made to bring this matter to a happy close. 
"I am dear Sir with sentiments of esteem 

"Your Excellency's most obedient Servant 

"B. Lincoln.! 

"His ExceUency Governor Bourloin." 

* Collection of S. T. Crosby, of Boston, and Massachusetts Archives, 
vol. exc, p. 342. 

t Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxc, p. 347. 



362 LIFE OF JLAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 Ou the receipt of General Paterson's second letter, General 
Lincoln replied as follows : 

"Head Quarters, Hadley, Feby 1, 1787. 

" Dear Sir : I am this moment honored with the receipt of your favour 
of yesterday's date. 

" Before you receive this you will probably receive mine by General 
Eossiter, in it I have fully expressed my sentiments relative to the im- 
portance of your preventing a junction of the men in arms against Gov- 
ernment & that I could not at present make any detachments, the great 
object 1 have in view is to disperse Shays : this I hope & expect soon to 
do. Should you find yoin- Insurgents assembling in such force as to en- 
danger your situation, you had better fall this way ; for if you cannot 
maintain your ground, you cannot give protection to our friends should 
you attempt it, if you should progress this way we shall soon form a 
junction, & bear down the opposition instantly 

" I expect that we shall soon be placed respecting the controversy on 
very different gi-ounds. The Legislature I am confident will immediately 
declare a rebellion to exist which will remove that delicacy which now in 
a degree, fetters all our movements. If in any of your marches the insur- 
gents should attempt to obstruct your movements in order to apprehend 
any of these parties, you have a right to fire upon them ; of their danger 
I would first warn them. 

"Lest my letter of yesterday may have fallen into improper hands, I 
now enclose a copy of it. — 

" I have the honor of being 

"Dr Sir with sincere Esteem 

" Your obt Servt 

"B. Lincoln.* 

" Genl Paterson." 

On February 5th Governor Bowdoin wrote to General Lin- 
coln sending him a copy of the declaration that rebellion ex- 
isted in the commonwealth and of the resolves passed by 
the legislature. He notified him that twenty-three hundi-ed 
men were to rendezvous at Worcester, under Major-General 
Brooks, on the 10th. " You will please order them," he wrote, 
'' to gather the three hundi'ed men from the fourth division to 
operate in such a manner as you may think proper. Colonel 
Hall, on his arrival, informed me that you had ordered two 

* Collection of S. T. Crosby, of Boston, and Massachusetts Archives, 
vol. cxc, p. 345. 



THE DsSURRECTION IN BERKSHIRE. 363 

regiments from tlie 3d division, but General Brooks thinks, 1787 
from liis knowledge of those regiments, that few of the pri- 
vates belonging to them would be assembled. As the pro- 
ceedings of the General Court may produce some powerful 
and desperate efforts on the part of the insurgents, and as it 
now becomes essential to the dignity and safety of the gov- 
ernment effectually to crush the insuiTection, I have thought 
best to order an additional force, which fi-om seventeen him- 
dred has become twentj'-six hundi'ed, in consequence of a con- 
ference which I had this evening with a committee of the Gen- 
eral Com't, who signified theii* idea that it would be proper to 
enlai'ge the number." 

The defeat at Springfield and the surprise of the retreating 
insm'gents at Petersham by General Lincoln, who with an 
army of eastern militia was sent by Governor Bowdoin to re- 
store public order, broke the heart of the rebellion ; but there 
was still a considerable number of men in Berksliire who had 
not been able to join Shays on account of the rapid movements 
of General Lincoln, and who now determined to act for them- 
selves and call off the troops fi"om the east by making demon- 
strations in their own county. They determined to occupy 
the mountains between the two counties of Hampshii-e and 
Berkshu-e, where there are plenty of positions easily defended, 
from whence they could raid the adjacent towms and secure 
hostages at will. 

Being informed of this state of things, General Pater son 
had raised a body of five hundi-ed men, consisting of the most 
respectable people of the county, many of the most prominent 
citizens being willing in the public defense to serve in the 
ranks in their own and the public cause. This was but a 
small force to serve all over the county against a force of law- 
less men who were always changing theii" position, and who, 
recognizing no legal authority, were raiding, robbing, and 
murdering wherever they found an opportunity. He had also 
earnestly entreated assistance from General Lincoln, who had 
promptly responded by making Ms headquarters at Pittsfield. 
General Paterson's letter is given on the next page : 



864 LIFE OF JIAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 "Lanesborough, Februarys, 1787. 

" To Major-Gencral Lincoln : 

" Dear Sir : Having iutelligence on Wednesday last that a party of in- 
surgents were collecting at a place called Stafford's Hill at the south part 
of Adams, I thought it my duty to move the troops under my command 
toward them. That evening I arrived at Pittstield, and, seeing me deter- 
mined to come toward them, they decamped from their situation with a 
declared intention of collecting their forces the next day at the south end 
of Williamstown. Convinced that my safety depended on the rapidity of 
my movements, on Friday I marched toward the intended place of ren- 
dezvous of the enemy. A small party had collected, who immediately 
dispersed at my approach. On Satui-day I returned to this place, where 
I have been informed that the insui'gents are collecting at the southeast 
and southwest corners of the county. A man by the name of Bishop was 
taken prisoner, and this day released in Partridgefield by a party under 
command of jMajor Wiley of about thirty-five men (whom his folloM-ers 
called General), who said he was then pointing his course toward Wash- 
ington, where he was to be met by a party of two hundred more, who had 
marched from this county and who had not been able to make their way 
to Shays by reason of the force of Government which lay in their way. 
From Sandisfield I am informed, and by gentlemen upon whom I depend, 
that about forty men had marched from that town and were progi'essing 
toward the same place. Mr. Hurst, a gentleman of veracity and judg- 
ment, was this day made a prisoner by that same party, then increased 
to four hundred men. I am further assured that a man who principally 
directs the movements of the insurgents in this county has been some 
days since in the State of New York, endeavoring by the propagation of 
every falsehood he could invent to arouse the inhabitants to reinforce his 
party here. 

"I haA-e thought it my duty thvis to detail to you my real situation, and 
I am certain that, if in your power, you will immediately disijateh a body 
of men from those under your command to my aid. Should this not be 
the case, I woiild suggest to your consideration the propriety of making 
a detachment from the body of militiamen under command of General 
Shepard. 

"I am, sir, with much esteem, 

" Youi' most obedient servant, 

"John Paterson, Maj.-Gen. 

" To Honhle MapGcnrl Lincoln. 

"P.S. — To-morrow I shall move to Lenox, where I shall possess the 
most eligible situation in which either to defend myself or prevent a junc- 
tion of the enemy. Should I find them collected in a situation in which I 
shall judge it practicable to attack them with a probability of success, I 
shall not wait the determination of the General Court determining that 



GENERAL PATERSON'S LETTER. 365 

they are in a state of rebellion to consider them as such, and act accord- 1787 
ingly with yoiir troop, and pray you to forward ammunition, which is 
much wanted, especially balls." * 

The following" is the dupHeate of the above letter sent later : 

" Lanesborough, 5 Feby 1787. 

"Dear Sir: Having intelligence on Wednesday last that a party of 
the insurgents were collecting at a place called Staffords Hill at the 
south end of Adams, I thought it my duty to move the troops under my 
command toward them. That evening I arrived at Pittsfield. Perceiv- 
ing me determined they decamped from their situation with a declared 
intention of meeting the next day at the south end of Williamstown. 
Convinced that my safety depended on the rapidity of my motions, on 
Friday I marched toward their intended place of rendezvous, a small 
party had collected there, who on my approach imediately dispersed. 
On Saturday I returned to this place. Here I have been informed that 
the insurgents are collecting at the southeast and southwest corners of 
the county. A Mr. Bishop was taken prisoner by a party of about 85 
men, under the direction of Major Wiley, whom his followers stiled Gen- 
eral, who said he was then pointing his course toward Washington, where 
he was to be joined by 200 men who had marched from this county, with 
an intention to join Shays but had not been able to effect their purpose. 
From Sandisfield I am informed by gentlemen on whose representation I 
fully rely, that about 40 men had marched from that town and were pro- 
gressing toward the same place of rendezvous. Mr. Hurst, a Gentleman 
of character, and with whom I have conversed, was made to-day a pris- 
oner by this same party then increased to about 100 men. I am further 
assured that a man who principally directs the movements of the insur- 
gents in this county has been some days since in the State of New York 
endeavoring by the propagation of every falsehood he could invent to 
rouse the people there to reinforce his party. 

" Thus I have thought it my duty to detail to you my real situation, 
and I am certain if in your power you will detach immediately to my aid 
a body of the Troops under your imediate command. Should this not be 
in your power I beg leave to suggest to your consideration the propriety 
of detaching a part of the Hampshire militia under the comand of Gen- 
eral Shepard. 

" Thus far is a duplicate of what I sent you this morning. Since then 
I am arrived at Lenox. Since I came here videttes whom I had sent for 
that purpose report that Wiley has taken post at Washington and thej 
report that their force is composed of considerable numbers. 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxc, p. 355. 



S66 LIFE OF :MAJ0R-GENERAL JOHN PaTEESON. 

1787 " This letter will be handed you by Mr. Brown who can inform you of 
any particulars of which you wish to enquire. 
" I am Dear Sir, 

"With much esteem, 

" Your most obed. Servt. 
" Tlie Hon M.-Genl. Lincoln." * "John Paterson. 

On the receipt of this letter General Lincoln determined to 
march to Berkshire at once. He wrote on February 6th to the 
governor t of his change of plans, and started for Berkshu'e. 
In the meantime the coui-iers had carried several letters be- 
tween the two generals, which are given below. He wrote at 
once in reply to General Paterson : 

"Petersham, Feb'y 6th, 1787. 
"To Major General John Fatertion. 

"Dear Sir : I have been honoured with the receipt of your favor of 
yesterday's date. 

"Shays, Saturday afternoon. left Pelham ; in the evening I received 
infonnation of his movements, put the Troops in motion, & arrived here 
on Sunday morning, at 5 o'clock. 

"Upon our approach, he left this place, in a very precipitate manner, 
— 150 fell into our hands ; he moved thro' Athol Northerly ; the last in- 
formation I had of him was near Chesterfield, in the State of New Hamp- 
shire, with about 100 men ; the rest are dispersed, & many returned to 
their homes ; this gives me an opportunity to remove as fast as possible 
toward you. — I shall commence my march for Hadley, to-morrow morn- 
ing : No time will be lost in throwing a very sufficient force into your 
County. I sliall have the pleasure to come with the Troops. 

" The General Coiirt have conducted with great spirit & dignity — they 
have fully approved the measures taken ; they will provide for the ex- 
pense of them ; they have declared a Rebellion to exist, & have oi'dered 
the Grovernor to keep up a force untill the Rebellion is fully crushed. 
Take some strong post, if you consider yourself in danger, untill I can 
relieve you. Should you think it advisable to attach the Insurgents, 
prior thereto ; warn them of their danger, & that the General Court has 
declared a Rebellion to exist, & that if they do not surrender, they will 
be considered as open Enemies, & treated as such. 
" I have the honor of being 

" Dr Sir with sincere Esteem 

"Your obt. Servt. 

"B. Lincoln." t 

* From collection of Z. T. Hollingsworth, of Boston. 
f Massachusetts Archives, vol. exc, p. 35S. 
t Communicated by S. T. Crosby, of Boston. 



AlVINESTY OFFERED THE REBELS. 367 

General Paterson could not implicitly rely upon the militia ] 787 
which the law placed under his command, for a large major- 
ity of them had in the beginning of the conflict sympathized 
with, aided, and abetted the opposition to the government ; 
but when it came to armed i-ebellion many of them had yielded 
to their sober second thought. This change in the position 
of the better class of those who had favored the agitation in 
its earlier stages was due in part to their own observation of 
what it threatened against society and the country, but it was 
also largely aided by several gentlemen of influence, who went 
from town to town calling attention to the dangers with which 
it threatened the commonwealth ; and of these General Pater- 
son was one of the most influential, especially among those 
who had served with him in the war. The change, however, 
was not extensive enough for him to rely upon it for restoring 
order in the county, and hence his appeal to General Lincoln. 
That it was not unnecessary was proved by the later outrages 
at Stockbridge upon the Rev. Mr. Skeele at Egremont, and in 
other places by an inroad of Shays' men from New York. 

The news of the affair at Petersham reached the General 
Com't on February 6th. It gave great encouragement to the 
friends of good order, but the court hesitated to authorize the 
countermanding of the order for the two thousand six hundred 
men ; but on further information on February 8th they re- 
duced the number to one thousand five hundred, to be enlisted 
for four months. They requested the governor to offer a re- 
ward of £150 for the arrest of any of the leaders of the re- 
bellion, and desu-ed him to ask the governors of the other 
States to do the same. They complimented General Lincoln 
for his march from Hadley to Petersham. The insurgents 
now changed theu' tactics and commenced attacks by small 
bodies by surprises, attended with robbery and miu-der. On 
February 16th amnesty was again offered, but this time they 
were required to lay dowu their arms and take the oath, and 
were required to keep the peace for three years, during wliicli 
time they were not to be allowed to vote, to hold any office, 
nor to serve the State in any capacity nor receive any honor 
or emolument that the State could firrant, unless by the 1st of 



368 LIFE OF :MAJ0R-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 May, 1788, tliey could satisfy the General Court of tlieir un- 
qualified supjiort of the government. The governor was given 
power to dispense with the whole or any part of the conditions 
in favor of any one who, ha\dng taken up arms against the 
government, volunteered for its support before the 1st of 
February, and to all persons who had accepted the conditions 
of General Lincoln offered on the 29th and 30th of January. 
This law caused more than twenty of the towns to petition for 
the pardon of all State prisoners and the recall of the army. 
They promised that the rebels were now repentant, and would 
cease from any acts of rebellion ; but while they were making 
these promises General Lincoln sent letters representing the 
malignant acts of the rebel marauding parties, which stopped 
all opposition to it in the General Coiu't, and the biU was 
passed. 

When the rebels fled from Petersham on February 4th Gen- 
eral Lincoln dismissed three companies of artillery, ordered 
three regiments to Worcester, and started for Northfleld, to 
which place the fugitives had fled. An express from General 
Paterson in Berkshire with the letters cited above changed his 
plans. The rebels there who had not been able to join Shays 
took up arms in that county. Five hundred of the best citizens 
organized themselves under General Paterson to oppose them. 
The rebels assembled at West Stockbridge under Hubbard, 
who had one hundred and fifty to two hundred men. The 
forces were sent against them. The advance was fired on. 
On the demand of some of the gentlemen who were known to 
them that they should lay down their arms, some of them did 
so and the others fled. Two of the rebels were killed, and 
Hubbard and eighty-four men were taken prisoners. Most of 
these after being disarmed took the oath and went home. The 
rebels collected again at Adams but fled at General Paterson's 
approach to Williamstown, and on his appearing there they 
were dispersed and fom-teen of their number were captured. 
They were determined to prevent the sitting of the courts, and 
were collecting in such numbers, and so large a body were 
actually on their march toward the town of Washington, im- 



THE REBELLION IN BERKSHIRE. 869 

der a Major Wiley, as to make General Patersou's situation 1787 
nnsafe ; and he therefore sent an express to General Lincoln 
for assistance. General Lincoln immediately started for 
Berkshire, passing through Amherst, Hadley, Chesterfield, 
Partridgefield, Worthington, Peru, Hinsdale, and Dalton to 
Pittsfield. Another division under General Shepard marched 
there by a different route. On February 10th he -WTote to 
General Lincoln : 

"Sheffield, Feb'y 10th, 1787. 
" Dear Sir : I have this moment heard that Wiley was yesterday at 
Greeu river, trying to collect men to assist in opposition to Government, 
and that he had procured a party, how many he does not know to join 
him, he gave out that his intention was to attack this party, part of his 
men were on this side of the line, & he with another part on the other 
side, the person who brought this intelligence is recommended to me as 
a man of truth. 

" I am with esteem 

"Your obedt. servt. 

"John Paterson. 
"Hoiible Genl Lincoln, Pittsfield." * 

In the meantime General Lincoln wrote to him : 

"Pittsfield, Feb'y 12th, 1787. 
" To Major General John Paterson. 

"Dear Sir: Your favor of yesterday's date came to hand about 5 
o'clock this morning. 

"Two of our Kegiments arrived here yesterday, in the storm, exceed- 
ingly fatigued, the other is not up, which prevents their marching again 
this morning. I would have sent you some relief by sleighs but they and 
many of our people are out, & have been so all night, in order to appre- 
hend some particular characters. Besides if the Eebels should attack 
at the time you supposed they would do it, I know that a reinforcement 
coiild not reach you ; I intend to-morrow morning to move one of our 
Regiments toward you. Should there be any appearances which shall 
make it indispensable to yoiu* safety, I will attempt to succour you 
before. 

" I have the honor of being 

"Dr Sir with sincere Esteem 

"Your obt. Servt. 

"B. LlXCOLN."t 

* From the collection of Greuville Kane, Esq., of New York, 
t Commimicated by S. T. Crosby, of Boston. 



370 LIFE OF 3L\J0R-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 Two hundred and fifty rebels had in the meantime collected 
in Lee to prevent the sitting of the conrts. Three liundi*ed 
citizens assembled to protect the com-ts. The rebels dispersed 
on the promise of the commander of the militia that he would 
have them tried at home if arrested. When the army arrived 
in Pittsfield a party was dispatched to Dalton and another to 
Williamstown to arrest Wiley. Both parties returned the next 
day, the first one having taken Wilej^'s son and six prisoners. 
Wiley escaped. The other party took fourteen, and had one 
man wounded. General Paterson had written for reinforce- 
ments, to which General Lincoln replied as below : 

" Pittsfield, Feb'y 12th, 1787. 
" To Major General John Paterson. 

" Dear Sir : I am this momeut honored with the receipt of your favor 
of this date, our men are now in the Regiment. Col. Woods will march 
for your part of the County in the morning. By the many people who 
have this day arrived I have little reason to believe that any party will 
attempt your force to-day ; the earliest succour will be given you. 
"I have the honor of being 

" Dr Sir with sincere Esteem 

" Your obt. Servt. 

"B. Lincoln." * 

While the army was in Berkshire marauding parties in the 
county of Worcester commenced to arrest travelers and to go 
plundering though the count}', constantly insulting the friends 
of the government, in order to distract the attention of the 
forces in the west and iiartly to satisij then- own desires for 
disorder. When this was learned at Worcester, a party of 
one hundi'ed and fifty in sleighs and on horseback started to 
capture them. When the insurgents learned of it they left 
theii* quarters and went some little distance, secreted them- 
selves behind stone walls, and fired on the miUtia and then 
fled to the woods. Two of the militia were wounded. The 
rebels were pursued to Rutland in Worcester County, where 
they were dispersed and four of them captured. 

On February 15th Eli Parsons, a very truculent person, who 

* Commimicated bv S. T. Crosby, of Boston. 



THE EEBELLIOX IX BERKSHIRE. 371 

led some foiu- hundred Berkshire men in Shays' army, and 1787 
who was one of those who found a hiding-place among the 
hills, issned an address to his " friends and fellow-sufferers in 
the lower counties," stating that he was collecting reinforce- 
ments from New York and Vermont, and beseeching the 
friends to assert theii* rights. The sanguinary character of 
this manifesto is shown by the last paragraph, which is given 
below : 

" The first step I would recommend is to destroy Shepard's army ; then 
proceed to the county of Berkshire, as we are now collecting in New 
Lebanon in York State and Pownal in Vermont State, with a determina- 
tion to carry our point if fire, blood, and carnage will effect it. Therefore 
we beg that every friend will immediately proceed to the county of Berk- 
shire and help us BurgojTie Lincoln and his army." 

On Februar}' IGth General Shepard, with warrants from the 
proper authority, sent a party into Vermont to arrest Par- 
menter, one of the leaders, but they were met by such hostile 
assemblies that they were obliged to return to Massachusetts. 
They afterward succeeded in arresting the whole party, includ- 
ing Parmenter, who was tried and convicted of treason. They 
lost only one of their number. The period for which the 
militia were called out had expired on February 1st, and the 
new troops not having aiTived in any large nimiber, and 
General Lincoln being left ^^ith only about thii-ty men, the 
rebels determined to seize him and other persons, but put it 
off until the troops arrived and it could no longer be done. 
The turn that public opinion was taking at this time is weU 
illustrated by the letter given below : 

"EiCHMOND, Feb. 22. 1787. 
" Hon, Maj. Gen. Lincoln. 

" Sir : Capt. Wood proposes to make application to your honor in be- 
half of Roswell Turner, now a soldier iu his Co. for his arms which were 
delivered up to Capt. Longfellow, when he was in this town. He lived 
in West Stockbridge, where the poisonous infection spread, & being young 
& ignorant, was easily influenced. He soon realized his fault & swore 
the oath of allegiance, and will most cheerfully employ his arms in the 
defense of the Government. 

"I am yours etc. 

"Nathaniel Bishop." 



o72 LIFE OP INIAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 The rebellion had now taken the shape of raids from neigh- 
boring States. The General Court therefore instructed the 
governor to write to the governors of all these States, offering 
a reward for the capture of the rebels, and requesting them to 
take means to prevent their receiving supplies. The governor 
of Rhode Island replied on the 15th of February and promised 
to act, but did nothing ; but the Assembly by a large majority 
refused to act, and allowed one of the rebels a seat in its 
chamber. The governor of Connecticut replied on the 20th, 
offering every assistance, issued a proclamation, offering a 
reward for the apprehension of the reliels, and forbidding 
aid and comfort to be given to them. In May the Assembly 
passed a resolution ordering the arrest of persons inciting to 
rebellion, and they were arrested and imprisoned. In New 
Hampshire, where the legislature was not in session, the gover- 
nor and council ordered the arrest of persons inciting to re- 
bellion, and gave the major-general orders to arrest all armed 
parties coming into the State from other States. No answers 
were received from New York or Vermont. 

In order to provide against these raids General Lincoln 
wrote to General Paterson as follows : 

"PiTTSFiELD, Feb'y 21, 1787. 
"To Major General John Paterson. 

"Dear Sir : You will please to raise immediately, to remain in service 
for the space of ten days, unless sooner discharged — 



Cap. 


Sub. 


Ser. 


Cor. 


D. & F. 


Private. 


4 


6 


16 


16 


4 4 


200 



cause one hundred to rendezvous at Sheffield on the twenty-third, there 
to remain for a cover to that & the neighboring Towns : — the other to 
rendezvous in this town on the same day. 

" I have the honor of being 

" Dr Sir with sincere Esteem 

" Your obt. Servt. 

"B. Lincoln."* 

General Paterson sent dispatches to General Lincoln notify- 
ing him of the approach of the rebels : 

* Communicated by S. T. Crosby, of Boston. 



THE REBELLION IN BERKSHIRE. 3/3 

"Lenox, Feb. 25th, 1787. 1787 
" Dear Sir : The bearer, Mr. Bennett, I have directed to wait on you 
with Col. Ashley's letter to receive yonr orders. 

" I am with respect & esteem 

" Your obedient servant 

"John Paterson. 
" To Hon. M. Gen. Lincoln." * 

On February 26th the people of the town of Richmond 
wi'ote to General Lincoln at Pittsfield that the insurgents 
were collecting forces in New York State. 

"Feb. 26th, 1787. 
" Selectmen of Riclimond 

" To Gen. Lincoln, at Pittsfielcl. 

" By intelligence this moment rec'd from New Canaan, the insurgents 
collected in N. York State have paraded & marched in 3 Divisions. 120 
was counted bet. 10 and 12 this evening in 1 Div. marching toward this 
County. We are much alarmed at this Military appearance & think it 
our duty to give your Honor this, and every information that threatens 
so immediate destruction. We are your most obed. Servants 

"Jos Raymond. 

"Benj. Pierson & Wm. Barns." t 

On February 26, 1787, eighty to ninety men under Captain 
Perez Hamhn came into Berkshire from New York State, pil- 
laged Stockbridge, took some of the principal men prisoners, 
and marched with their prisoners and booty to Great Bar- 
rington. They broke open the jail and set the prisoners free, 
and marched to Sheffield. They were met on the 27tli on 
the western boundary of the town by eighty men under Col- 
onel Ashley, who gave them battle, and here the severest en- 
gagement of the rebellion took place. Two of the rebels were 
killed, and a third died of his wounds. Thirty, including 
Hamlin, their leader, were wounded, and a large number were 
taken prisoners. Of Colonel Ashley's forces two were killed 
and one was wounded. One of the killed was a prisoner in 
the hands of the rebels. He was killed by the fire of the mih- 
tia, for to screen themselves the rebels put their prisoners in 
front. General Paterson did not arrive in time for the action, 

* From MS. in possession of Mr. Wm. Benjamin. 
+ Communicated by W. Benjamin, New York. 



374 LIFE OF I\IAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 which had been so decisive. He came up a few hours later, 
and took charge of the prisoners and reheved the gentlemen 
who had so gallantly won the field and dispersed the rebels. 
The same day Colonel Ashley sent reinforcements to General 
Lincoln with field pieces and ammunition. Fearing an attack 
on Lanesboro, General Lincoln wrote as follows : 

" PiTTSFiELD, Feb'y 28th, 1787. 
"To General John Patterson. 

"Dear Sir: I have invited all the Good People of Lanesborough to 
turn out this afternoon, & to remain in Arms till further Orders, for the 
purpose of defending their own Town, and of giving aid to their Friends, 
should they not be attacked themselves. My application is but a wish, 
they may or may not obey it, it appears to me that their own safety re- 
quires the measure, would it not be well, if you are of the same opinion, 
to issue youi" orders on the subject. 

"I have the honor of being 

" Dr Sir with sincere Esteem 

" Your obt. Servt. 

"B. Lincoln."* 

On the 1st of March the senate ordered " that his excellency 
the governor be and is hereby requested to express to Major- 
General Lincoln that the legislature entertain a high sense of 
the spirit, patriotism, and distinguished merit of the officers 
and soldiers who at the call of their country have, with a 
cheerfulness peculiar to great and good minds, exerted them- 
selves in defense of the rights and privileges secured to the 
citizens of this commonwealth by our happy constitution." 

" The legislature congratulate their brethren in arms on the 
success that has crowned their virtuous exertions for the sup- 
pression of the late lawless rebellion and insurrection. 

" In the House of Representatives read and concurred, and 
approved by the governor." t 

After the attack at Stockbridge, February 26th, the General 
Court on March 8th requested the governor to write again, 
and asked the governors not only to arrest the rebels them- 
selves, but to allow the officers from Massachusetts to enter 

* Communicated by S. T. Crosby, of Boston. 
t Court Records, vol. xlix. 



CLOSE OF THE REBELLION. 375 

their States and arrest them. In the meantime General Lin- 1787 
coin, after the engagement at Sheffield, had sent an express to 
the governor, giving information of the affair of the 26th. 
The legislatiu-e at once issned the most general orders to Gen- 
eral Lincoln ; three regiments of militia were ordered out to 
co-operate with the Massachusetts troops, and they gave the 
governor leave of absence in order to visit the governors of 
the neighboring States, and he went to the scene of action 
with General Lincoln. This obliged the rebels to leave for 
Vermont. At first the governor of that State refused to do 
anything for fear that the legislature might be surrounded by 
men who he knew were arming ; but on the urgent and very 
spirited resolution of the General Com-t of Massachusetts 
being sent to the governor of that State, and a remonstrance 
against the aiding of convicts flj'ing from justice, the governor 
of Vermont issued on February 22d a proclamation as re- 
quested. The governor of Pennsylvania complied at once 
with the request of the governor of Massachusetts, and March 
1st offered an additional reward for the capture of the rebels. 
On March 8th the General Court authorized the governor to 
march the militia out of the State if it was necessary. The 
governor wrote to Congress, informing them that there was 
an insurrection in the State, and requesting Congress to send 
troops to defend the Federal arsenal at Springfield, and asking 
a commission for General Lincoln and authority to march 
troops into any other State for the apprehension of the lead- 
ers. This done, the General Court proceeded to the trial of 
those in custody. On February 26th the Supreme Judicial 
Court were directed to hold a special session of the counties 
of Berkshu-e, Hampshire, and Middlesex. The court was to 
sit in Worcester on the last Tuesday in April. The selectmen 
were ordered to remove from the jury-list the names of all 
persons who had aided or forwarded the rebellion, unless such 
persons could obtain a vote of the town to have their names 
reinserted, and the attorney for the commonwealth did not ob- 
ject. The rebelhon had in some towns been so general that 
there were hardly enough persons left to be officers of the cor- 



876 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 poration. On the 10th of March the General Court appointed 
three commissioners whose duty it was on application of any 
one concerned in the rebellion, and on fui-nishing satisfactory 
evidence of their sorrow and taking the oath, to restore them 
to citizenship witliout being bound to keep the peace. From 
this act there were excepted Shays, Wheeler, Parsons, and 
Day, and any persons who had fired on or killed any citizens, 
and the commander of the party to which any person who 
had killed any citizen belonged, and any member of the i-ebel 
council of war, and all persons against whom warrants had 
been issued by the governor and council, unless liberated on 
bail. The commission consisted of the major-general acting, 
and the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House. 
They also passed a resolution dii*ecting that the selectmen 
and other town officers should take the oath of allegiance to 
the commonwealth. They also passed a bill reducing the 
number of terms of holding the com'ts of Common Pleas and 
General Sessions of the Peace, and a new bill reducing the al- 
lowances made to public officers. They appointed a committee 
to inquire into public grievances. The committee reported 
only very few : 

1st. That the interest on the public securities had not been 
promptly paid. 

2d. That the Treasurer had not been held under sufficient 
restrictions in drawing orders. 

3d. That the governor's salary was too high. 

The legislature passed a bill reducing the governoi*'s salary 
to £800, and the governor objected that liis salary of £1100 
was not sufficient, and that the legislatm'e had no right to re- 
duce it ; that the governor ought not to be under the influence 
of the General Court ; that the Constitution provided that he 
should have a permanent and sufficient salar}^ ; and the bill 
was lost. The same day, March 11th, the governor at the re- 
quest of both Houses adjourned them. In the recess of the 
legislature seven hundred and ninety persons were restored by 
the commission. Of those who were tried six were convicted 
of treason in Berkshii-e, six in Hampshire, one in Worcester, 



PARDONING THE REBELS. 377 

and one in Middlesex, or fourteen in all. They were eon- 1787 
demned to death. Besides this, many persons of prominence 
and some officers were convicted of using seditious words. 
One was a member of the House of Representatives. He was 
sentenced to sit on the gallows with a rope around his neck, 
to pay a fine of £50, and was bound to keep the peace for five 
years. This sentence was carried out. Afterward the Court, 
on April 30th, advised that only two in Hampshire and two in 
Berkshu'e should suffer death, but the sheriff was instructed 
not to open his orders until May 17th, when they were under 
the gallows. To the others the governor on April 30th gTanted 
a free pardon. A reprieve was granted to those condemned 
to the 21st of Jiine. After all these acts of clemency, in one 
of their predatory excursions on May 21st the rebels captured 
two citizens and held them as hostages for the lives of Parsons, 
Parmenter, and Henry McClintock, who were under sentence 
of death for high treason. They threatened to put these citi- 
zens to death if the sentence was executed. Both of the gentle- 
men afterward escaped. At the session of the legislature the 
governor reported that it was necessary to keep troops stationed 
in Hampshire and Berkshu-e counties until the rebellion was put 
down. The legislature voted a force of not more than eight 
hundi'ed and not less than five hundred men for this purpose. 
They also passed resolutions pardoning aU persons connected 
with the rebellion on their taking the oath before the 12th of 
September, except nine who wei-e named. It was evident that 
the rebellion had been put down, but some of the leaders went 
to Canada with the hope of obtaining aid to keep up the strife ; 
but in this they were not successful. They then determined 
to go to the polls, where they should have gone in the fii'st 
instance. Each party used every means in its power to elect 
its candidates. The result of the elections was a complete 
sm-prise to every one. The conservative party, which had 
been the party of law and order and had supported the gov- 
ernment in aU its acts, was defeated by a large majority, so 
that it seemed as if there had been a complete change in the 
public sentiment in favor of the rioters. 



378 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 The legislature was couvened for the fourth thne since the 
■ rebelhon, on April 27th, on account of the death of the treas- 
urer of the State. Every one looked forward to the session 
with the greatest anxiety. Governor Bowdoin resigned, and 
Governor Hancock was elected in his place. It was found, 
when the legislature assembled, that not more than a quarter 
of the new members had been in previous legislatures, and 
that several of these had been impHcated in the rebellion, 
some of them having been fugitives on account of acts of 
treason, and others having actually served a time in prison. 
It was supposed that they would at once grant a free pardon 
to all the rebels, but contrary to all expectations, the session 
took at once a conservative tone. They refused by a vote of 
129 to 94 to grant a general amnesty. On June 16th they ex- 
tended the time of reprieve for the convicts to August 2d. 

On the 29th of June thanks were sent to the States who 
had aided the State of Massachusetts. The legislature then 
directed that after that date no further acts of clemency be 
granted to any found in arms against the State. It was found 
on examination that the resolution of pardon extended only to 
persons who had been guilty of treason ; another was there- 
fore introduced to include seditious practices. One party 
contended that the cost of prosecution should be paid by the 
commonwealth, and another by the culprits. They passed as 
a compromise a resolution that no prosecution should be com- 
menced against any one for sedition or seditious practices 
until the end of the next session. This session ended on the 
7th of July. The continued reprie^dng of the convicts pre- 
vented the rebels outside of the State from committing further 
acts of rebellion and avoided a pretense for hostilities, and 
these reasons were stated in the warrants. 

A bill had been introduced into the General Coui't granting 
indemnity to the leaders of the rebellion, but so worded that 
any one against whom an indictment had been found did not 
come under its provisions. It consequently bore very severely 
on those who had been active in the commencement of the re- 
bellion but had early changed their minds and been loyal sup- 



PARDONING THE REBELS. 379 

porters of the government since then. In the general desire 1787 
for clemency, as these men had been forgotten, the amnesty 
was accorded to them, as shown by the letter to Governor 
Hancock dated Augnst, 1787, written by Mr. Van Schaack : 

"It is with a degree of satisfaction that I have it in my power to assin-e 
your Excellency that if the resolve of the 13th of June last had compre- 
hended persons xuader indictment for the smaller offenses [this resolve 
gave amnesty to the leaders of the rebellion], the inhabitants of Pittsfield 
would have been entirely satisfied. Major Oliver Eoot, Captain Daniel 
Sackett, Lieutenant Anson Noble, and Constable Moses Wood are of this 
class of men, and were among those who in the early stages of the insur- 
rection returned to a sense of their duty, and have ever since demeaned 
themselves as faithful citizens. They feel exceedingly chagrined that 
they should be under degrading disqualifications, while those who have 
committed high-handed offenses against the public have returned to the 
bosom of the country without punishment." 

On September 12th a pardon was gi'anted to four of the 
convicts, and four were reprieved until the 20th. Of those 
confined in Berkshire two escaped and the other had his sen- 
tence commuted to hard labor for eleven years. On August 
12th quiet was so far restored that the number of men in arms 
was reduced to two hundred. On September 20th the gover- 
nor ordered them to be discharged. 

In extinguishing the last sparks of the rebellion against the 
authority of the commonwealth amongst the Berkshire Hills, 
General Paterson was as active as he had been efficient in the 
commencement of it. He was prompt, energetic, active, always 
on the alert and ready for every emergency. How efficient 
his service was and how highly it was appreciated is shown by 
the fact that when resolutions of inquiry implying a censure 
on some of his actions during the rebellion were presented in 
the House on the 5th of March, 1787, the Senate refused to 
concur.* 

It was shown that the general had not heard of the declara- 
tion of the rebellion made by the General Court on February 
4th, when he treated with Wiley, as he had been justified in 

* See Appendi:; F. 



880 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 doing, not only on acconnt of the orders which he had pre- 
viously received from General Lincoln, but also on account of 
the measures which had been passed in the General Com-t. 
It was several days after he treated wdtli Wiley before he re- 
ceived news of the declaration of a rebellion, and when he did 
so treat with him it was done with every reserve that was 
necessary under the circumstances and every caution that 
would be expected from a leader of his military ability. 

Iij February, 1788, Shays and Parsons humbly begged for 
pardon, which was granted on the 13tli of June following, on 
condition that they, with those persons who were among the 
number who had been excepted in the indemnity of June 13, 
1787, should never accept or hold any office, either civil or 
military, under the commonwealth. 

John Hancock was elected governor of Massachusetts by the 
first vote of the State on September 4, 1780, and held the office 
until failing health compelled him to resign. During the win- 
ter of 1784-85 James Bowdoin succeeded him and was re- 
elected in 1786. He was governor during all the first part of 
the rebellion, and it is owing largely to his determination, 
foresight, and wise policy that the rebellion was so quickly put 
down, and to his instructions to the commanding officers that 
there was so little blood shed. When he resigned in April, 
1787, John Hancock succeeded him, and carried out the meas- 
ures initiated by Governor Bowdoin of bringing the rebels 
to justice, but so tempering justice with mercy that none of 
the leaders became troublesome afterward, and that then- pun- 
ishment, while fully satisfying justice, was not so severe as to 
sour the rebels and their friends on account of the harshness 
of their treatment, for both governors recognized that these 
men were for the most part misguided, and that most of the 
privates were more sinned against than sinning. If the order 
had been reversed and Ha.ncock had been the governor during 
the rebellion instead of afterward, it is doubtful whether it 
would have ended so happily. It was one thing, however, to 
suppress the rebellion, but quite another to bring the disaf- 
fected people to again, cordially and unconditionally; support 



CAUSES OF THE REBELLION. 381 

the goverument. This John Hancock did. Only one sentence 1787 
was carried out. Tliose condemned were either allowed to 
escape or were pardoned at the foot of the gallows as they 
went to what everybody supposed was their execution, this 
suffering having been judged amply sufficient. Order was re- 
stored, commerce revived. The laws were revised so as to 
fit the then condition of things. The State became prosper- 
ous, and has continued to remain so. 

The rebellion was a peculiar one, inasmuch as it did not 
originate in dissatisfaction toward any of the officers of the 
government or toward the government itself. It was more 
the impulse of a distressed people, loaded with burdens the 
reason for which they did not understand, to do something to 
rid themselves of their difficulties, which they could not ex- 
plain, but to overcome which they thought they must do some- 
thing. It was as much the result of having no profitable em- 
ployment and of having too much time to talk over troubles 
— with no other result than the excitement which the exagger- 
ation of the real evils which have to be borne always produces 
— as it was of the troubles themselves. Had there been fewer 
meetings to protest against wi'ongs, the remedy for which they 
had in their own hands in the elections, and which could 
easily have been cured in a few months at least, there would 
have been no rebellion. It was as much the result of injudi- 
cious talk as of real grievances. 

There was very great and general rejoicing when the rebell- 
ion was quelled. It had been put doAvn by the decisive and 
vigorous action of the authorities, aided by the best people in 
the State. But for their vigorous action it might have ripened 
into a serious civil war, not only in Massachusetts but in the 
neighboring States. The men who accomplished it received but 
little thanks. The undercurrent of popular sympathy had all 
along been with the rioters. People felt that their grievances 
were real, and while they did not uphold their unlawful ac- 
tions, they felt for the men. The men who had overcome the 
rebellion felt the weight of the popular odium which usually 
falls to the lot of those who are called on to execute justice 



882 LIFE OF JIAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1787 when the public sympathizes with the offender. Such odium 
fell heavily on Governor Bowdoin and General Lincoln at the 
time, but both of them lived to be thoroughly appreciated 
after the lapse of sufficient time to allow matters to adjust 
themselves. The memories of all those who helped to put the 
rebellion down are now held in grateful appreciation, while 
their opponents have been forgotten. It now requu'es even 
research to revive the history of anj'thing but the patriotism 
which these men who so ably defended the State showed dur- 
ing the whole of those perilous times. 

This period must be regarded as one of the most important 
in the history of the United States, for it brought the attention 
of the leading men in all of the States to the necessity of hav- 
ing a government much stronger than that which had been 
proposed, and it undoubtedly helped to cement the Union, 
which has been so prosperous since that time. The rebellion 
played an important part in the history of those times, for 
although open opposition was made in only one State, it showed 
that it was possible in all. We owe to Governor Bowdoin a 
great debt for carefully studying the causes of the rebellion 
and endeavoring to remedy them, and for his vigilance in see- 
ing that the leaders were ferreted out and that the misguided 
people were treated with proper but not too great leniency. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE PURSUITS OF PEACE. 

After the rebellion was over, the legislature, ])y carefully 1789-1790 
prepared enactments, and the courts, by very wise decisions, 
ameliorated the evils as far as it was possible, and the people 
tliemselves, by mutual forbearance, diminished the troubles 
which previous harsh measures had made so gi'ievous. Im- 
prisonment for debt ceased little b}^ little to be the fashion, 
while laws amehorating- the too harsh relations between debtor 
and creditor were passed. The farmer saw that whatever else 
was true, his land could not produce everything that he re- 
quu'ed to work his farm, or even for his convenience and 
comfort; that he must purchase certain articles, and that> 
although these things might be imported, they were not of 
necessit}^ articles of luxury, and therefore a cause of demor- 
ahzation. 

Grievances were adjusted Iw proper course of law, and the 
State settled down quietly into a prosperity that it had ne\-er 
known, even in pre-Revolutionar}' times. Village Hfe became 
a routine of every-day duties. The town meeting, which had 
been the safety-valve up to the time of the Re^'^olution, re- 
sumed its functions, and peace and quiet reigned throughout 
the State. 

No one in western Massachusetts was more prominent in 
bringing about the good-will and confidence and restoring 
order than General Paterson. Having been called as a sol- 
dier to put do^\m the rebellion with the iron hand of war, he 
had been conversant with the dissatisfaction in every part of 
Berkshire County. He was thoroughly acquainted with the 
ideas of those who had real or fancied grievances. He was 

o83 



884 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1789-1790 by nature a leader of men. His long" military experience had 
made liini thoroughly acquainted with the probable action of 
men in large masses. His practice as a lawyer and his judi- 
cial mind made men accept his well-matured opinions and fol- 
low his advice and counsel. 

The town of Lenox was then one of the most remote and 
inaccessible jjlaces in the State. The beauty of its scenery and 
the legends of the hills surrounding it have been described 
many times. The hills, ponds, and rivers were more attractive 
then than now, because more natural. The autumn foliage was 
very beautiful before the maples, and trees of hke character, 
which were then very abundant, had been cut off. 

Wlien order was restored General Paterson resumed the 
practice of his profession, which had been interrupted dming 
the Rebellion. Most public matters were talked over and well 
digested in his office before they were discussed in town meet- 
ing. As Lenox was the county town, the courts were held 
there, which made it the prominent business center of the 
coimty. The sessions of the courts brought lawyers and 
judges from all parts of the State, many of whom had been 
officers in the Revolutionary army or in Shays' RebeUion ; and 
for them, as well as for other prominent citizens. General Pat- 
erson's office was the general rendezvous. The reputation as a 
lawyer which he had gained from the legal opinions he had 
given in the many coiu'ts-martial over which he had either 
I^resided or been a member of, and his well-earned reputation 
for legal accuracy, had followed him into civil Hfe. His time 
was divided between his practice in the courts and his endeavor 
to induce his clients to settle their disputes outside of them. 

On August 11, 1785, his eldest daughter, Hannah, married 
Major Egieston, who had enlisted in his regiment in 1775 and 
had been on his staff during Shays' Rebellion. On January 3, 
1778, his eldest son, John Lee, married the eldest daughter of 
his old friend and conn-ade in arms, Caleb Hyde. 

Many families of Revolutionary officers had settled in Lenox 
and the neighboring towns after the war, and made a most 
agreeable societ}'. They were iiitinuitely acquainted with one 



RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE. 885 

anotlier, aud marriages among them were frequent. They 1789-1790 
Avere for the most part very cultivated people, well read in 
the literature of the times, and familiar with all the u'reat Ene;- 
lish authors. Educational advantages were not then of a high 
order, but the people soon set themselves to right that. It 
took l)ut a few years to lay the foundations which afterward 
made the town the greatest educational center of Berkshire 
County, and for many years one of the most renowned in the 
Stafe. 

The settlers of Massachusetts were a commercial company, 
who came out to that colony for the purpose of trading with 
the Indians. They, had their own ideas al^out religion, and 
were determined that they woidd have no " lords over God's 
heritage," but would have for themseh'es perfect liberty of 
conscience. That liberty of conscience, however, meant that 
every one should think exactly as they did, nor depart from it 
in oue jot or tittle. Toleration was not to be thought of, and 
no person was allowed to be a freeman or to vote who did not 
conform in every particidar to what they laid down as the rule 
of that conscience. If the differences were slight, punishment • 
of some kind was visited until the individual should conform, 
but the penalty for any considerable differences was banish- 
ment. Their religious intolerance was far greater than that 
from which they had suffered at home. And so in the name of 
hberty they built up an absolute despotism, whose tyranny was 
so great as to form one of the most curious instances of the 
kind in all history. Wliat the conscience was to be was de- 
termined by the minister and his advisers. If the minister 
was a powerful man inteUectuaUy, there was very little trouble ; 
if his ad^dsers, who together with the minister were the keepers 
of the State conscience, were stronger than the minister, there 
was continual theological strife. The ministers were ordi- 
narily settled for a long j^eriod, many of them for life. When 
the minister was not settled, they had what used to be called 
"stated preaching," which permitted the dismissing of the min- 
ister at any time. The State conscience as promulgated by 
authority was the established religion. It ruled the State, it 



386 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1789-1790 dominated the courts, and no decision, if made contrary to 
what it declared to be true, could be enforced or would l)e tol- 
erated either by the legislature or by the courts. To this estab- 
lishment people were admitted b}' " owning the covenant," and 
to it everybody, under all conditions, was pledged to pay taxes, 
and no rights of freemen could be had without that " owning 
of the covenaiit." Berkshire County was so remote from the 
center of this rehgiou, or the State establishment, as it really 
was, for the established religion of Massachusetts was not 
abolished until the year 1820, that it knew nothing by expe- 
rience of the religious tjTanny of the early settlers of the col- 
ony. The people were more tolerant, and even admitted that 
differences of opinion were allowable. The '' establishment," 
however, here as elsewhere, was the center of all intellectual 
life, and around it all important events, whether in the poUtieal 
field or in the family, turned. The first house in Lenox was 
built in 1750, but the town was not incorporated until 1767. It 
was not settled until the asperities of the State reUgion had 
"become somewhat softened, and was so remote from the great 
centers that, like all frontiers, it was necessai-y, from the very 
condition of things, to relax somewhat from a very strict i"ule. 
People in those days went to ''meeting''; they did not go 
to '' church." In colonial days nothing wliich savored of what 
was called prelacy was tolerated. During the Revolution the 
members of the Church of England had been very generally 
loyal to the king. After the Revolution people did not make 
the distinction between the men and their principles. To be 
a member of the Chm-ch of England was to be disloj^al. To 
worship as a churchman worshiped was to be papistical. They 
hated and alihorred both. Hence the "meeting-house," and 
not the " church," was the center of town life. In the eaily 
life of the colon^^ the established religion and the state were 
spoken of as distinct organizations, but they were distinct 
more in name than in fact. But the " establishment " con- 
trolled everj^thing, religious or political. Every one Avas taxed 
to support it, w;hether he believed in it or not. There were 
no civil rights without membership in it. The pilgi'im fathers 



RELIGIOUS IXTOLERANCE. 387 

suffered eventliiug to obtain their own liberty of conscience, 1789-1790 
but they were not willing that any one else should have any 
such freedom — the}^ must agree with them. They did, in fact, 
what is often done — acquired their own liberty, and then in 
matters of belief refused it to any one else, except on condi- 
tion of accepting theirs. It was not until 1820, when the re- 
vised constitution of the State went into effect, that a separa- 
tion of church and state took place, and every man became 
free to believe wha,t he chose. In the early days they required 
confession, not to a priest, but to the whole congregation, but 
gave no absolution. This practice, from its inherent mischiev- 
ousness, had then, however, for many years fallen into disuse. 

The first day of the week was the Sabbath ; the name of 
Sundaj^ was spurned, as being of heathen origin. The prep- 
aration for the Sabbath always began on Saturday' morning. 
Dinner for the next day was cooked and placed in the buttery 
on the north side of the house, to be eaten cold. Early in the 
morning Indian meal was put upon the fire to simmer, and was 
served as hasty-pudding or suppawn, for the evening meal of 
Saturday, and was put by to cool, and on the Sabbath morn- 
ing was fried and eaten with molasses for breakfast. The 
thoroughness of the cooking was such that the meal w^as 
healthy and nutritious, and it is still used in some parts of 
New England. The Sabbath commenced on Saturday even- 
ing, which was treated in e\erj respect as part of the holy 
day. It ended, not at sundown on the next day, but when 
three stai's could be seen in the sky, which woidd be some time 
after sundown ; the da}^ was then considered as over, after 
which any boisterous play could be indulged in by the chil- 
dren, out-of-doors. The time on Saturday after sundown was 
spent in learning or reciting the Westminster Catechism, or in 
reading such devotional books as the library of the house 
afforded. 

The " meeting-house " was the center of aU the social life of 
the town. Those who lived in the village were but a small pro- 
portion of the members who had "joined the covenant." The 
others Hved in a radius from it which was often as great as six to 



888 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1789-1790 ten miles. The " Sabbath " services in the meeting'-house com- 
menced at half-past ten. Happy the congregation that did not 
get a sermon of at least an hoiu* or an hour and a half long. 
The discourses were often metaphj^sical rather than explana- 
tory ; they were imaginative, too, rather than practical. Thej'- 
were divided into heads and subheads, and often ended with 
" lastly," " finally," and " in conclusion," so that it was no small 
feat of memory to be able to give with the text a synopsis of 
the discoui'se. The text was always demanded of the little 
children, and both text and synopsis were usually required of 
the older ones. The elders had to be able to correct aiiy mis- 
takes, so that by constant practice it became a habit, both of 
old and young, not only to listen attentively, but to retain 
what they heard. This intellectual feat, which was then so 
common that it excited no remark, would now be considered 
as a dangerous experiment for children ; l.)ut living in the open 
air, and accustomed to hard physical exercise as they were, it 
seems only to have made strong intellects instead of weak 
ones. It developed the habit of close attention over long 
periods, and a memory capable of accpiii-ing a mass of details 
in a very short time and retaining them without gi*eat mental 
effort. It became by habit almost second nature. This edu- 
cation — for that it was — produced boys and girls who at the 
age of twelve years felt themselves capable of discussing the 
most abstruse theological questions, not always resulting in 
happiness to themselves. The people so schooled found little 
difficulty in memorizing the language of the Bible, with which 
they were very familiar, and also the ideas and the language 
of the best "vvi-iters. It made quick, sharp, but not always 
happy men and women, intellectually the superiors of their 
descendants, but the model was not a lovely oue. When the 
morning meeting was over the " intermission " followed, which 
was looked forward to, each week, as the great event. Those 
who came from a distance in winter brought their foot-stoves 
and their dinner, and ate it in the meeting-house, which then 
became a place of social reunion, until the time of the " after- 
noon meeting." The young formed groups by themselves, and 



1 



THE INTERMISSION. 389 

talked together of what interested them. The men discussed 1789-1790 
the crop prospects, and interchanged views on subjects relig- 
ious, political, or social. The goodwives gossiped to then- 
hearts' content over their affairs, and b}' the time the ^- after- 
noon meeting " was to connnence they had talked themselves, 
one and all, "into a frame of mind" to listen to another ser- 
mon an hour to an hour and a half long. Hcibit incapacitated 
them from thinking of anvthing else. In the summer, dm-ino- 
the intermission the young people went into the graveyard, or 
on to the Ledge or Pinnacle for a walk ; the very young ones 
remained in the gravej-ard, which was next the meeting-house, 
and played among the gravestones witllout noise. The grave- 
yard was ''hired out" to the highest bidder annually for past- 
urage, and in their play tliey had to be careful not to run 
against some horse, pig, sheep, cow, or calf, w^hicli had the legal 
right there. Brainl)les were the rule there, and they had to be 
careful not to tear their clothes on them. Their play was veiy 
quiet. It was the only condition of tlieii- being out-of-doors. 
No demonstrative play w^as allowed on the Sabbath until three 
stars could he distinctty seen. When the " afternoon discourse " 
was finished, those who came from a distance went liack to their 
homes. For those in the village there was a prayer-meeting 
at five, which ended the religious ser^dces of the da,y. 

The churchyard and the walks near it were the delightful 
resorts of both young and old. The sometimes quaint inscrip- 
tions on the gi^avestones were read over and o^^r again. They 
never lost their interest, though they were learned by heart 
from constant reading. The view from the churchyard, which 
must remain beautiful for all time, was ever fresh. It was 
even more Ijeautiful then than now, though still one of the 
most attractive in the town. Our ancestors had lirought with 
them from England a most beautiful and devotional custom 
of burying their dead mtli their feet to the east, so that Avhen 
our blessed Lord appeared on the resurrection morning there 
should he no backs turned toward Him, but aU should rise to 
face Him when he appeared in His glory. Puritanism never 
did away with the custom, and it is only within comparati-^-ely 



oV)0 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSOX. 

1789-1790 recent years, since " improvements " and " higher criticism " 
have undermined the spiritual, that this devout and beautiful 
custom has been done away with. 

The social life was very simple. There were Hterary gath- 
erings for the reading or recitation of selections from the best 
authors. As books were few, scrap-books were plenty. Some 
of them, beautifully written, A\'ith original pieces as well as 
selections, are still in good preservation. Young people com- 
peted with one another in committing to mem.ory long ex- 
tracts from the l)est English literature. The commimity were 
as familiar with Shakespeare as with the Bible. Such an edu- 
cation could not fail to» produce a high polish of style, though 
to us it seems somewhat stilted. 

The postal facilities were small. Letters were long, but 
they read more like essaj^s prepared for a magazine than the 
extemporized efforts of an hour. Men addressed their parents 
and wives, and lovers their sweethearts, in language that was 
in the most stilted style of English, which, though it doubtless 
expressed to them all that the heart could desire of duty, af- 
fection, or love, seems to us as we read it now not to be likely 
to excite any such emotions. 

Music was cultivated everywhere. Each town had its sing- 
ing-school and its singing-master. Young people came to- 
gether to learn to sing by note and to cultivate their voices. 
Serenades were very frequent ; they were both vocal and in- 
strumental. Open-air performances were quite common. Some 
of the more musically ambitious would on summer evenings 
go to what was then called " the grove," a small clum}) of trees 
near the foot of the Court-house Hill, and when tlie wind was 
toward the town, climb the trees and discourse sweet music 
from them, which could l)e distinctly heard in the town. It 
was simple, good, whole-souled, and natural, and gave a pleas- 
ure which we, accustomed to what is more artificial, can hardly 
imagine. But the great musical organization was the village 
choir. Sometimes it was more ambitious than successful, but 
it always "praised God, from whom all blessings flow," with 
the heart, though the fiddle or the bass-viol bow did some- 



THE VILLAGE CHOIR. o91 

times make discordant sounds. The leader of the choir was 1789-1790 
an important man, but the most important in his own estima- 
tion, then as now, was the man witli the bass viol. Organs 
were not known, and the chou", usually a large one, composed 
of almost every one in the village who had a good voice, was 
accompanied by such musical instruments as the village could 
furnish, the number depending not so much on the balancing 
of the music as the number of persons who could play the 
flute, fife, clarionet, or stringed instrument. Brass instru- 
ments were rarely seen. The singing was usually good. It 
was almost without exception congregational, or at least all 
the congregation joined in it. How ambitious it was depended 
on a variety of circumstances, and among these, what the choir- 
master thought they could perform, and what the minister 
would allow. This kind of choir has almost entirely passed 
away in New England, except, perhaps, in towns remote from 
railroads, and has been replaced by much more artificial 
methods. The people now want "culture" in music as in 
everything else, but it is doubtful whether they " praise God " 
as well, certainly not so much from the heart, as when every 
one had the opportunity of helping in that praise. No such 
thing as devotional music confined to the choir, in which the 
congregation had no part except to Hsten, was known. 

The amusements for the young were about the same then 
as now. " The one-horse shaj^ " and the gig with C springs 
have long passed into history. Many a happy drive was taken 
in these vehicles. It is doubtful whether the long journeys 
into the other parts of the county or into neighboring coun- 
ties or States, though made in less time, are now made any 
more comfortably. Every saddle had its "pillion." It was 
hard for the horse, but delightful for the young people, who 
"for the sake of the horse" could go as few miles in as many 
hours as was pleasing for them. When the journey was to 
be long, the saddle-bags, which contained everv^thing, from a 
change of clothes and reft-eshment for the journey to part of 
a farrier's outfit, was an important adjunct. 

The games of the boys were verj' much then what they are 



392 LIFE OF :\IA.JOK-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1789-1790 now in summer, except tliat base-ball was a simple game of 
real enjoyment, and that in foot-ball, the ball was actnally 
kicked, and not moved in any other way. The old game of 
wicket, which for years was so very popular, seems to have 
died out entirely. The town had three ponds, they call them 
lakes now. Little Pond, in the town itself, Big Pond, on the 
Stockbridge road, and Scott's pond, on the road to Lee. Be- 
sides these, the swamp on the west side of tlie town was 
always overflowed and frozen in winter. These ponds gave 
abundant fishing for pickerel and other fresh-water fish, 
which were caught through the ice in winter and from I'ow- 
boats in the summer. There was plenty of game of all kinds 
in their season. In the winter sleigh-riding was the principal 
amusement of both old and young, and " sliding down-hill " 
the joy of the children. It is called " coasting "' now, and is a 
much less natural and healthful amusement. Sleds were not 
to be bought ; the}^ were made. The one with the greatest 
speed gave the greatest joy. The Court-house Hill and the 
Meeting-house Hill were full of boys and girls on proper 
days, enjoying this exhilarating and healthful sport. But 
there were drifts and snow-crusts which would not bear the 
runners of the sleds, and for them " the jumper," the pride of 
the boy who could make it, was used. It consisted of two 
flour-barrel staves nailed on to a piece of lioard, and a string 
fastened to a nail to hold it by. It could be supported on a 
very thin crust, but if there was any pi'ojection the jumper, as 
it was not more than three inches high, would be sure to catch 
it, when it would remain behind, and the boy with his acquired 
velocity would shoot on, to his intense joy, until friction or 
some other obstacle stopped him, and then lie would have to 
run, to his heart's delight, to catch his jumper, which, released 
from its burden, would speed on before him. 

The village life was healthful and natural. The houses 
had open fireplaces : the drum stove had not been invented. 
Wood was used exclusively for fuel. There was plenty of 
ventilation, no over-heated air ; for even when the ^nndows 
were stuffed with cotton or covered with sand-bags, and the 



MUSTER-DAY. 393 

fii-eplaces iu the bedrooms filled up, air would eonie in. The 17S9-1790 
life was out-of-doors, and so our ancestors grew up in the New 
England villages, men and women ready to grapple with the 
ills, and fully prepared to enjoy the good things, of this life. 

The domestic life was of the simplest description. Families 
were self-dependent ; while the men worked the farm or looked 
after then* out-door affairs, the women not only attended to 
their ordinary household duties, but knit, spun, and wove into 
fabrics such homespun articles as were necessary for the family 
use. It seems wonderful that they were able to do so nnu^h ; 
but they systematized their time, and were never idle when 
well. As their life was so natviral their health was strong, 
and nervous diseases were not common. With all their house- 
hold duties and work they never forgot to cultivate and main- 
tain that grace which characterizes ladies. The evenings were 
spent in some kind of recreation, w^hich was usually of an in- 
tellectual character. Great beauty, both of face and cliaracter, 
was not uncommon, as is shown by some of the miniatures 
which have come down to us. Foremost among them were 
Mrs. Paterson, her daughters, and granddaughters. 

Military matters were not neglected. General Paterson took 
the liveliest interest in the organization of companies in the 
villages and of regiments by the union of companies. He 
saw that they were properly uniformed and di-illed. He 
inspired the soldiers not only with proper military spirit, l)ut 
with patriotic ardor. He endeavored to maintain discipline 
among them just as much as if each regiment might be 
called in the afternoon to march into action at sunrise the 
next morning, as his own regiment had done. Muster-day 
was the great day of the year, and to prepare for it the yoiing 
men ''trained" weekly during the spring, summer, and fall, 
the mothers, wives, sisters, and sweethearts doing their best 
to have the young men they were interested in have as impos- 
ing an appearance as possible. Eveiy yoiing man in the town 
old enough to bear arms joined a comjiany and di-illed on the 
village green preparatory to the '' muster," which was made to 
be as much like a real camp as possible. Fu-es were lighted. 



81)4 LIFE OF IMAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSOX. 

1789-1790 sentinels posted, watchwords were given, and all things con- 
dncted as though the enemy was near and an attack was liable 
to be made at any time. Alarms were given at all times of 
day and night, and for the time of the mnster it looked like 
real war. Most of the officers had seen service, and tliose who 
had not were never tired of hearing, over the camp-fires, of 
" how we beat the British." Patriotic songs were snng, and 
the pi'inciples of trne heroism were inibil:)ed Ijy the young 
men by hearing over their camp-fires on these occasions the 
story of the sacrifices made Ijy the Revolutionary army, how 
they fought to redress wrongs, and of the feats of bravery of 
men then living, and perhaps in cam^) with them. No oppor- 
tunity was lost of inculcating on the young men the duty of 
each one to defend his country in times of danger, and never 
to submit to oppression lest they should lose the right to be 
freemen. Patriotism was taught to be the noblest of civic 
virtues. The onty music at these ''musters" was the fife and 
the drum, to the notes of which the old men would straighten 
up and march like young ones, and the younger men would 
put all the military fire in their faces and steps that they were 
capable of, and look for the smiling admiration of theii* ladies. 
The fathers talked the Ijattles over before the children, who 
listened with eager ears, and, not to be behind their elders, or- 
ganized companies with paper hats and epaulets, mth wooden 
swords and guns, and such accouterments as their mothers' 
store-chests could furnish, and marched with such precision 
as they could. They had many a r>itclied battle with one 
another, taking sides, in which the British were, by common 
consent, Ijcaten ; and when they were not, there were storms 
of words, and "No fair play ! " and "I won't play any more." 
It was a foregone conclusion that the British must he lieaten, 
and if they were not, there could be no fair play in it. The 
great ambition of eveiy boy was to become old enough to i)ut 
on a real uniform and to be a soldier. The boys wei-e not 
less patriotic than the men, and formed no small part of the 
admiring and appreciating crowd which assembled on the 
muster-davs. ^Mien thev were angrv with one another their 



THE "BOSTON PURCHASE." 395 

most opprobrious epithet was to call one another " a redcoat,'- 1791 
ill allusion to the hated British uniform, or "a Hessian," which 
meant a menial hii'ed to do dirty work. So the next genera- 
tion grew up, patriotic, dearly loving their country, sure that 
they had rights, certain of what they were, and ready to de- 
fend them, as they afterward did in the War of 1812. This 
spirit never died out. It looked for some years before the late 
War of the Rebellion as if it had become dormant, but when 
the call came for volunteers to defend the nation, Berkshire 
County in general, and Lenox in particular, were quick to obey 
the call. Lenox has its heroes of the Revolution, of the War 
of 1812, and of the Rebellion. 

General Paterson had come to Lenox with three little chil- 
dren, one son and two daughters. Four other children, one 
boy and three girls, had been born to him there, and one of 
the daughters had died in infancy. His daughter Polly, a 
beautiful and accomplished girl, had died at the age of seven- 
teen. His family now consisted of two sons and three daugh- 
ters. Mrs. Paterson was in every respect a very remarkable 
woman, and well suited to be the head of his household under 
all the various conditions of his life. 

In the year 1790 General Paterson became one of the pro- 
prietors of the " Boston Purchase," wdiich consisted of 230,400 
acres in Broome and Tioga counties. New York. This prop- 
erty was west of the Chenango River and Owego Creek. It 
extended twenty miles north of the Susquehanna River. He 
therefore decided, in 1791, to remove from Lenox with his 
family to Broome County, in company with his wife's parents. 
General Hyde, of Lenox, wdiose daughter Clarissa had married 
General Paterson's eldest son, followed him in a very short 
time. Before leading Lenox he transferred the house sit- 
uated on Main Street, on the crest of the Court-house Hill, 
which he had built when he first settled in that town, to his 
daughter, Mrs. Egleston. The journey to Broome County was 
long and tedious and exceedingly difficult. It was made by pass- 
ing through Catskill to Bainbridge on the Susquehanna River, 
where they took boats and descended the river to the present 



8!M3 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1791 site of Bing'liamtou, thence up the Chenango and Tiong-hinog-a 
rivers, to the forks of the latter and the Otsehc rivers, to 
Lisle,* now known as Whitney's Point, in the township of Tri- 
angle, where they were the first, or among the fii'st, settlers in 
the town. The place where he built his house was for a long 
tune known as "Paterson's Settlement." The first religions 
ser\dce in the town was held in his house. There was but one 
school each winter. The teachers were selected from the fam- 
ilies settled in the town. One of General Paterson's sons was 
the second teacher of the village school. General Paterson 
was the peer of the ablest in the surrounding country, and was 
at once called to public service. He was made commissioner 
of highways for the town of Union, then in Tioga County, in 
1792. He was elected assessor in the same year. In the year 
1791 that part of Montgomery County which is now embraced 
in the coiinties of Broome, Tioga, and Chemung was set off 
as a county under the name of Tioga County. General Pater- 
son was the first judge and the first representative to the State 
legislature from the new county. He represented Tioga County 
for two years — 1792, 1793 — in the New York State legislature. 
During that session he was member of the Standing Commit- 
tee on Grievances and of many of the temporary commit- 
tees to which matters of importance were referred during the 
session. Among these were those relating to the internal 
improvements of the State, to military matters, especially to 
making the law of the State relating to the militia conform to 
the law of the United States ; for the regulation of the elec- 
tions for the State and United States officers ; for the arrange- 
ment of the division of counties ; for the formation and set- 
ting of the boundaries of new counties ; for the improvement 
of internal navigation ; for regulating the administration of 
the courts of justice ; for making new roads in different 
parts of the State ; for arranging in relation to bounties of 
land granted to soldiers of the Revolutionary War; for 

* The town of Lisle as originally laid ont included the present town- 
ships of Lisle, Baker, and Triangle. Whitney's Point is a village in the 
township of Triangle. 



GENERAL PATERSON IN CONGRESS. 397 

the vesting of glebe lauds in the legal authorities of the dif- 171)4-1806 
f erent churches. There were not as many committees in those 
days as now in the legislature, the entu'e number at this ses- 
sion being four. Matters were referred to special rather than 
to general committees. General Paterson was also very effi- 
cient in securing the services of proper persons for both civil 
and military offices and seeing that the qualifications of those 
recommended were exactly what they should be. He was 
elected a trustee of Oxford Academy on January 27, 1794. In 
1796 he was made assessor and commissioner of schools. On 
March 27, 1798, he was appointed to the bench and was chief- 
justice of the county of Tioga. He was in 1801 a meml^er of 
the convention called to amend the constitution of the Imitate 
of New York. 

Cxeneral Paterson was elected to the United States Congress 
in 1802 from Tioga County, and served from October 7, 1803, 
until March 3, 1805. In Congress he was the same active, 
untu-ing, efficient man that he had been during the war. 
He was a member of some of the most important committees 
of the House, supporting and defending the claims of the Rev- 
olutionary soldiers, endeavoring to put the currency of the 
country on a sound financial basis, studying and advocating 
the best way to establish and regulate the mints and the coin- 
age of the country, looking after the construction of the pubhc 
buildings, arranging treaties with other countries, and tr\dng 
to throw some order into the commercial affairs of the nation 
by the passing of a proper banki'uptcy law, and to do away 
with imprisonment for debt. He was always looking after 
the interest of the soldiers, and he never forgot that the coun- 
try he had served so long, both before and during the war, 
needed the best service that he could render after the war, 
and he rendered it as only a patriot of his convictions and 
abihty could. Upon retiring from Congress he retiu'ued to 
his duties on the bench. 

On April 2, 1806, the county of Broome was set off from 
Tioga County. On May 13, 1806, he was made chief -justice of 
Broome County, his term of service ending ^ath his life. The 



S9S LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1806 district has since been divided into several connties. There 
were but few public conveyances in those days, and he and 
General Erastus Root, afterward Lieutenant-Ciovernor of New 
York, representing' the Delaware district, which, with the Tioga 
district, then composed nearly one third of the State, used to 
meet at the great bend on the Susquehanna and go through 
the woods as far as Hai-risburg on their way to Congress, and 
make the most of the journey to Washington on horseback. 

General Paterson was six feet one and a half inches in 
height, and well proportioned, of graceful carriage and com- 
manding mien. He was a nervous, quick, active man, and a 
great pedestrian. While county judge, he would often walk 
eighteen miles to Binghamton to hold his court, rather than 
go to the field and catch a horse to ride. While in the army 
he excelled as a drill officer. He was ditfident, retiring in 
habits, never putting himself forward or importuning for 
place. Duty was first with him, and whether he received 
censure or praise for doing it, it always had the force of 
law with him. In all his relations he maintained the strict- 
est interpretation of probity and honor, and he never forgot 
that he was a gentleman. He was a man of varied accom- 
plishments, of great scholarly attainments, was prominent 
as a lawyer, an eminent and an upright judge, was much re- 
spected as a useful and worthy citizen, always alive to his own 
duty while seeking to help others, and he consequently held 
many offices of trust. He was as just as a judge as he had 
been active and efficient as an army officer. Although a very 
large land-holder. General Paterson never became wealthy in 
his new home, but he was revered by his neighbors and looked 
up to as well qualified both to advise and lead in public mat- 
ters. The historian of New Britain, Connecticut, from which 
locality he removed to Lenox, says that, "judging from the 
honorable offices bestowed on General Paterson, he was in 
these respects the most distinguished man ever reared there." 
Those who knew General Paterson well, some of whom were 
with him in the army, say that history might truly set forth 
his merits in a very strong light as an accomplished gentle- 







7 



IN MEMORY 
OF 

MAJ. GEN. JOHN PATERSOI 

SON or 

COLJOHN PATERSON, 

BORN 1744. DltD JULY t», l«9>, 

NC QRADUATIQ AT YALI COLLEOt IN l7«2,RtPRtStHri 
LENOX IN THE PftOVIHCIAL CONORS SS OF IT74 %. I7TS,RAII 
A MOIMINT 6N HIS R€T«RH IN t7?5,AN0 WAS ONI OF TH« 
FIRST IN TH« rtJLO WITH IT ArTtR THt BATTLI OF LCXINOl 
HC CROSSSe THl OtUWARt WITH WAftHiNCTON 0tC.8S>IT| 
AHD NARROWLY tJOARiO Dt ATH AT URATCeA.HJ WAS AT 1 
09VNeiL or IWNMOUTH »N l?T«,ANO rOUOHT IN MOST Or 
BATTLtS OF THE RCVOLUTION.ttRyiHC BURINO TNI WHOU] 
WAR, AMD WAS OHI Or THl rOUHMRt Or THl SOCIITY Of ' 
ClNCINHATt. HIS LOVE. Of COUNTRY WAtUHSOUNOID HU 
RATRJOTISM UNFLINCHINt AHB HU RUiLIO SRIRIT UNTtRW 
IN QRATITUSt FOR Hit SIRVICtS TO WS COUNTRY AND IN 
RIQOGNITION Or HIS VIRTUIS THIS TAILIT IS tRtOTIC 
lYHIt QRANOtON, 

THOMAS EGLESTON. 




MEMORIAL TABLET IN TRINITY CHURCH, LENOX, MASS. 



GENERAL PATEESON'S CHILDREN. 399 

mail, a great soldier, a thoroug-li patriot, an eminent lawyer, 1792 
and a just judge. 

General Paterson liad seven cliildi'en, three of whom were 
born ill Fannington, Connecticut, and four in Lenox, Mas- 
sachusetts. He died at Lisle, New York, July 19, 1808, aged 
sixty-four. A monumental tal)let to his memory, shown oppo- 
site, was erected in Trinity Church in Lenox by his great- 
gi-audson, Thomas Egleston, in 1887. 

CHILDREN. 

General Paterson had two sons and five daughters. 

(1) Josiah Lee Paterson. 

He was born in Farmiiigton, Conn., October 11, 1766. On 
January 3, 1788, he married in Lenox Clarissa Hyde, eldest 
daughter of General Caleb* and Elizabeth (Sackett) Hyde. She 
was born in Lebanon, Conn., April 27, 1767. They went to 
Lisle with General Paterson. Her father followed shortly 
after. They lived there until 1813, when they removed to 
Monroe Couiitj^, N. Y. They settled first at Ogdeii, and after- 
ward removed to Parma, Monroe County, N. Y. She died in 
Parma, April 16, 1837. He died there March 12, 1846. They 
had nine children, four daughters and five sons. 

(2) Hannah Paterson. 

She was born in Fannington, August 24, 1769, and married 
in Lenox, August 11, 1785, to Azariah Egleston, who was born 
in Sheffield, Mass., February 23, 1757, and was the son of Setli 
and Rachel (Church) Egleston. He with his three brothers 

* General Hyde was born in Farmingtou, Conn., July 29, 1739. In 
1761 he married. Elizabeth Sackett, who was born November 22, 1742. 
They settled in Lenox in 1769. He was very active in remonstrating 
against and in opposing British aggressions. When General Paterson 
took the field he was sent from Lenox to the Third Provincial Congress 
at Waterto-mi as his successor. During the Revolutionary War he was a 
captain, and after it was over was made sheriff of Berkshire Coimty. He 
served in this capacity during Shays' Kebelliou. He removed to Lisle 



400 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1793 enlisted at Pittstiekl iu General Paterson's regiment, and was 
with him during the whole war, and afterward in Shays' Rebell- 
ion. After the war they settled in Lenox, and when General 
Paterson left there he transferred to Mrs. Egleston the house 
which he had built and had occupied with his family, wliich is 
now owned by his 'great-grandson, Thomas Egleston, of New 
York. He left the army as paymaster of the First Massachu- 
setts regiment, with the line rank of lieutenant and the staff 
rank of major. After the war he was several times appointed 
major in the Massachusetts militia. He was made justice of 
the peace in Lenox iu the year 1787, and held the office con- 
tinually until 1815. He was elected representative to the Gen- 
eral Court (House of Representatives) iu 1796, 1797, 1798, and 
1799, and was State senator iu 180*7, 1808, and 1809. Li 1808 
he was made associate justice of the Court of Sessions, which 
office he held iintil 1815. Egleston Square iu Roxbury, near 
Boston, is named after him. He was a liberal patron of educa- 
tion. He founded the Lenox Academy, which for many years 
was the prominent educational institution iu western Mas- 
sachusetts. He organized the parish of Trinity Chvirch in 
Lenox, and helped to educate its first rector and to have him 
ordained iu England. He was noted through the State for 
his hospitality, liberality, and public spirit and benevolence. 
Mrs. Egleston died January 21, 1803. He died January 12, 
1822.* They had seven children, five daughters and two sons. 

(3) Folly Paterson. 

She was born in Farmiugtou in 1773, and died iu Lenox^ 
August 19, 1790. She was one of the nn)st beautiful and ac- 
com})lished young ladies of her day. She died at the age of 

shortly after General Paterson, and was always very intimate with his 
family both at Lenox and Lisle. After his removal to New York State 
he was elected major-general of the State Militia. He was senator at 
Albany in 1803. His wife died at Lisle, January 6, 1806. He died at 
Lisle, December 25, 1820. 

* A biographical notice of Major Egleston was pnlilished in the New 
York Gciic(il<>(jic((l ami Bioyraphical licconl, July, 1892. 



GENERAL PATERSON'S CHILDREN. 401 

seventeen years, and is interred in the Lenox cemetery, next 1792 
to the remains of her sister, Mrs. Egleston. 

(4) Ruth Paterson. 

She was born in Lenox, Au'gust 6, 1774 ; she was married in 
Lenox, November 14, 1797, to Ira Seymoui-, who was born in 
Richmond, Mass., March 18, 1776, the son of David and Lncy 
(Alvord) Seymonr. She died at Whitney's Point, February 10, 
1842. He died in Whitney's Point, N. Y., September 29, 
1866. They had nine children, six daughters and three sons. 

(5) Befsij Paterson. 
Born in Lenox in 1784, and died in infancy. 

(6) John Peirce Paterson. 

He was born in Lenox, May 5, 1787. He married at Lisle, 
July 22, 1809, Salty Osborne, who was born in Richmond, 
Mass., July 22, 1786, the daughter of William and Dorcas 
Osborne. They removed to Ogden, near Rochester, N. Y., in 
1812, and hved there until 1840, when they removed to lUinois. 
He died in Peoria County, 111., on the La Salle Prairie, fifteen 
miles north of Peoria City, June 3, 1842. She died in Birm- 
ingham, Schuyler County, 111., in May, 1847. While in Og- 
den he was sheriff of the county and member of the legisla- 
ture, and a presidential elector. They had one son and one 
daughter. 

(7) Maria Paterson. 

She was born in Lenox, February 9, 1790. She was mar- 
ried at Lisle, April 10, 1808, to Samuel Kilborn, who was born 
in Litclifield, Conn., November 2", 1783, son of Da\id and 
Deidama Kilborn. They lived in Spencerport, Monroe County, 
N. Y. He died January 31, 1862. She died April 23, 1865, 
at Ogden, N. Y. They had nine children, five sons and four 
daughters. 

(For a list of General Paterson's descendants, see Appen- 
dix H.) 



402 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1792 General Paterson died very suddenly in the vigor of man- 
hood and in the pursuit of duty, and with a profound love to 
the country he so ably defended. From the year 17GG, when he 
was made justice of the peace in Farmington, to the day of his 
' death, he always filled some important public position, and in 
each one of the three States in which he lived he was invariably 
a leading spirit. He was everywhere trusted in whatever capac- 
ity he acted, and honored by his countrymen with whatever posi- 
tions they had to bestow. He was not a politician, but an hon- 
est, able, generous, and high-minded citizen. Wlien not en- 
gaged in a military capacity he was always active in civic 
positions ; but public work never made him forget private 
duties. He was as good a husband and father as he had been 
conscientious in the discharge of public duties. He was buried 
at Lisle, and no monument of any kind, except a small head- 
stone, had, up to 1892, ever been placed over his remains. His 
wife died on July 8, 1841, at Spencerport, N. Y., at the home 
of her youngest daughter, Mrs. Maria Killjorn, at the age of 
ninety-two years, from dropsy, produced by fracture of the 
head of the femur, and was buried in the cemetery there. In 
her own sphere she was as remarkable as her husband. She 
not only brought up her family well, but she graced every 
position to which her husband was caUed, and always stood 
at his right hand to help him carry out any of his plans. For 
fifty-one years they were separated in death, as they never 
had been in life. In May, 1892, his remains and those of 
his wife, which had been buried at some distance from him, 
were reinterred ^dth appropriate ceremonies in the cemetery 
at Lenox, beside their two daughters, and a moimment of 
polished Quincy granite erected in the town, opposite to his 
house, and beautiful headstones put up in the cemetery by 
Thomas Egleston.* He was among the foremost of the Revo- 
lutionary patriots and soldiers of Massachusetts. Lieutenant- 
Governor Rockwell, in speaking of him in his oration at the 
Centennial in Lenox, says that " in preparing this oi'ation, and 

* For a full account of the unveiling ceremonies see Appendix H, 



GENERAL PATERSON'S SERVICES. 403 

examining as far as possible into the life of General Paterson, 1792 
I feel impressed that he had been a most important aid and 
adviser to Washington, and was in every way qualified to 
take the place of his chief in case of emergency." He was 
one of the most efficient of the Revolutionary officers, and one 
of the most trusted officers of Washington to the end of the 
war. Very few of Washington's officers could show such a 
record as his * during his activity, and when his post of duty 
became the " hated Highlands," he served Ms country in the 
tedious duty of watching the enemj^ with as much zeal and 
fidelity as if he had had all the excitement of an active cam- 
paign. The only pul3lic memorials of him were, up to 1892, 
in one of the five tal^lets sm'rounding the base of the monu- 
ment in commemoration of the battle of Monmouth in Free- 
hold, in the State of New Jersey (see p. lOG), where he is 
represented as taking an active part in the council of war, 
and the tablet erected in 1887 in Trinity Church, Lenox.t 

The Hon. Thomas J. Paterson, of Rochester, N. Y., General 
Paterson's grandson, in a letter dated July 6, 1878, apologiz- 
ing for the neglect of General Paterson's memorj^, says : " You 
say truly it is singular that children are so neglectful in keep- 
ing records of even distinguished ancestors. Yet it should be 
recollected that we are all sovereigns, and, in our estimation, 
peers of the l)est of them, and venerate in consequence of this, 
much less than other people, our ancestors. Everything is new 
with us, and soon fades and passes away. We have no an- 
cestral halls, hung around with armorial bearings, to awaken 
recollections of an honored ancestry and strengthen love of 
country, or temples devoted to the service of the ever-living 
God, moss-grown and ivied, where the son has worshiped in 
the place of the father from generation to generation, which 
are fast anchors. We are a wandering people. The sun that 
lights up our lurtli scarcely shines upon the land of our rest. 
We pause for a moment at the tomb of our ancestors and 
pay a tributary tear, then pass forgetfullj^ away. Our Amer- 
ican ship of state may have to ride for many generations over 
* See Appendix G. t See page 225. 



404 LIFE OF IMA.TOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1792 boisterous seas without these anchors, yet it is to be hoped 
the virtue and intelligence of the people will prevent the ship- 
wi-eck of liberty." 

General Paterson was a tireless and undaunted patriot, 
never for a moment losing heart in the cause of American in- 
dependence, sharing with his soldiers in suffering and priva- 
tion '' without mui'mm'ing " all that his country was called 
upon to endure in the cause of liberty from the beginning to 
the close of the war. No man in New England was more 
actively engaged in bringing about the American Revolution 
and carrying it to a successful conclusion than he was, and 
very few officei"S were more closely identified with the cause 
of American independence.* He served the country continu- 
ously during the eight years and a half of the War of the 
Revolution, although it cost him the sacrifice of most of his 
fortune. He thought, after the trial of Andre, that he should 
be obliged to surrender his commission on that account, as he 
had expended so much of his property in the cause of inde- 
pendence. General Washington was intimate with him, and 
respected him as a patriot on whom both his commander-in- 
chief and his country could rely. He was one of the gi'eatest 
heroes which Berkshire County has produced. 

Governor Rockwell, in his eloquent Centennial Celebration 
address at Lenox, July 4, 1876, speaks of General Paterson 
as follows : '' The regiment was concerned in the capture of 
Burgoyne at Saratoga in October, 1777. Wlien the regiment 
arrived at Newtown it had only 220 men, but, fellow-citizens, 
this was the fate of most of the early regiments, and herein 
consists the great merit of those officers and men. They 
suffered, sickened, and died that we might live in America 
under American government, its power limited and its officers 
elected by the people, under the best government, beyond 
aU question, upon the face of the earth. ... It may fairly be 
claimed that General Paterson was among the very foremost 
of the soldiers of Berkshire. If he had died in Lenox, it would 
have been resolved that he was worthy a public monument, 

* See Appendix G. 



CHARACTER OF GENERAL PATERSON. 405 

and that subject is ivortliy of consideration now (1876)." " The 1808 
United States," says Webster, '^ commenced their existence 
under circumstances wholly novel and unexampled in the his- 
tory of nations. They began with ci\dlization, with learning, 
with aR that was then known of science, with the constitution 
of a free government, and with that best gift of God to man, 
the Christian religion. Their population is now equal to that 
of England. In arts and sciences our citizens are little behind 
the most enlightened people on earth. In some respects they 
have no superiors. Our language, within two centuries, wiU 
be spoken by more people in this country than any other lan- 
guage on earth, except the Chinese in Asia. Even that may 
not be an exception."* This is the dii'ect result of the sacri- 
fices of those Revolutionary heroes. 

Speaking of the early history of this country, Gladstone 
says: '^ Whenever a youth desii'ous of the study of pohtical 
life consults me respecting a study in the field of history, I 
always refer him to the early history of America. Their sys- 
tem of government combined that love of freedom, respect for 
law, and desire for order which formed the surest element of 
national excellence." t Genei-al Paterson had much to do not 
only with the defense of the country, but also with establish- 
ing the laws on a proper basis after independence was gained. 
He had always been on the side of law. As a citizen he up- 
held it, as a general he enforced it, as a lawj^er he defended it, 
as a judge he interpreted it. As a legislator he bent his ener- 
gies to have the law so formed as to give equal justice to aU. 
His influence and example were always so used as to make 
obedience to just laws seem to every one the first duty of a 
good citizen. As a reviser of the State constitution he laid 
the foundations so broad that without a determined perversion 
of justice the law must be righteously administered. 

It is impossible to study the history of the American Revo- 
lution and the very perilous times between the end of the war 
and the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, 

* Preface to Webster's Dictionary. 
+ Gladstone's speeches. 



406 LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1808 dimug which there was great danger that evei*}i:hing gained 
by the war would be lost, without seeing that a wise Provi- 
dence directed every act of those two periods. Our forefathers 
were essentially a rehgious people. As a colony long before 
and as a government after the Revolution tliey recognized 
the Creator in all their official acts, and they continued to do 
so during a large part of the first half of this century. Alas, 
that this government ever aliandoned the practice ! This, T\dth 
many others of the principles of our ancestors, has become 
undermined by the influx of the people of all the nations of 
Europe, many of whom form a very dangerous element of our 
population. If this emigi'ation is not in some way restricted 
and the laws relating to it modified there is danger that the 
country will become un- Americanized, and that the religious 
principle and regard for law which were such prominent feat- 
ures of our early history may disappear. Let us hope that 
" in God we trust," which is stamped on some of our coins, will 
be received, in some measure at least, as the recognition due 
from this government to the Almighty Ruler of all things, and 
that we may stdl have the fulfillment of the promise attached 
to the command, " In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He 
shall direct thy paths." * 

The fii'st thirty years of General Paterson's life were spent 
in Connecticut, the following seventeen years, including the 
period of the Revolution, in Massachusetts, and the last seven- 
teen years of his life in the State of New York. Shortly after his 
death his dweUing-house and office with all theii* contents were 
burned, and his voluminous papers, records, and memoranda 
were destroyed. This cii'cumstance makes a detailed account 
of his eventful and interesting life peculiai'lv difficult. The 
history of months at a time is frequently lost. No one ex- 
cept a person who has undertaken the task can understand 
what a lal^or it is to collect the history of men who were dis- 
tinguished in theii' own days, and honored and loved by their 
countrymen, unless the data has been collated from their 
o'vvTi diaries or manuscripts, or gathered within the lives of the 
* Proverbs iii. 6. 



LOSS OF DIPORTAXT RECORDS. 407 

generation of theii- contemporaries ; but when no such colla- 1808 
tion has been made, and when records have been destroyed, 
as is the case with many of the Revokitionary sokliers, and 
especially of General Paterson, every vestige of whose papers, 
manuscripts, and journals was destroyed by the burning of 
his house, the task becomes surrounded with the greatest com- 
phcations. Of General Paterson it is true that in whate\'er 
State, county, or town he lived he was a prominent man. His 
life was passed in three States, in each of wdiich he distin- 
guished himself ; but removing from Massachusetts, the scene 
of his most brilliant labors, to an aknost unsettled part of 
New York State, he died and was buried in an obscm-e place, 
away from those most f amikar with his patriotic services ; his 
grave had been neglected, and his memory had been almost 
forgotten. He was also one of the brightest figm-es in the 
' early history of the States in which he lived. Although he 
was one of those who anticipated the Revolution, prepared 
for it, and from tke fu*st news of tlie battle of Lexington 
acted the part of a great patriot and a brave soldier, ready 
to serve his country in tune of war with abikty and fidekty, 
and filled in time of peace places of great honor, trust, and 
responsibikty in all three of the States in which he lived, 
yet he seems to have been forgotten in all of them, probalily 
because no one of them could clami an exclusive riglit to likn. 
His own joui'nals and records having been destroyed, what has 
passed into history has to be collected at almost infinite pains, 
from his official camp orders, from the army orderly books 
scattered through many libraries, in several States, from Rev- 
olutionary records, from the collectors of autographs, histories 
of the times,* and the family traditions, which in almost every 
case have been supported by some collateral evidence. 

It is fitting that pubkc demonstrations should be made, and 
that stately monuments of stone should be erected to the na- 
tion's patriots. Such testimony influences successive genera- 
tions of childi'en as they pass by them on thek way to school, 
or as they rally round them as goals in thek games ; it incites 
^ See Appendix I. 



408 LIFE OF AIAJOR-GENERAL JOHN PATERSON. 

1808 the young- men and women who from generation to generation 
are coming into the activities of life, when they read the epi- 
taphs on these monuments, to have noble aspirations in fulfill- 
ing theu- duty to then- Creator, to themselves, their neighbors, 
the State, and the countrj-, and to try to make the world better 
for their having lived in it. 



APPENDIX 



A 

THE PATEKSON FAMILIES. 

There were living in Farmington at this time two brothers, William 
and Edward Paterson, and a sister, Anna. They came from Scotland in 
1740, and lived on the same street with Major John Paterson. They in- 
troduced into Connecticut the tin industiy, which has become such an 
important article of manufacture in that part of the State. They were 
probably connections of the Major's family, but exactly what the rela- 
tions were has not been ascertained. Another William Paterson came 
to Trenton, N. J., with his father, Eichard Paterson, in 1747. He gradu- 
ated at Princeton in 1763, and studied law. He was a delegate to the 
Convention of 1787 ; United States Senator in 1789, but resigned when 
he was elected Governor and Chancellor of the State of New Jersey, 
which office he filled for three years. He was then appointed a Justice 
of the United States Supreme Court, and filled the office until he died in 
1806. Another family of Paterson came to Billerica, Middlesex County, 
Mass., twenty miles from Boston, which was settled iii 1650. Still an- 
other settled in Baltimore. This last family was still in commimication 
with the families of the same name which resided near New Britain in 
the early part of this century. All of these families wei-e Scotch, and 
came to this country within a few years of each other. I have not been 
able to trace the connection between these five families, though every 
indication points to the fact that they were related. Republicanism was 
so intense after the Revolution that papers were destroyed as valueless 
which would now be priceless. Armorial bearings which would have been 
a clue were discarded. When they were again adopted they were often 
taken from Burke's "Peerage," and sometimes were ignorantly, altered, 
so as to become rather a source of confusion in tracing relationships ; 
while, when not too much altered, tliey point to the general family rela- 
tion with certainty. A number of such pictures have been examined with- 
out the possibility of tracing the connection which it is believed exists. 

409 



410 APPENDIX. 

B 

WILL OF MAJOE PATERSON. 
(From original on file in the Pyohate Office, Hartford.) 

In the Name of God, Amen, the Eleventh Day of May in the year of 
our Lord 1759, I John Paterson, of Farmington in the County of Hart- 
ford and Colony of Connecticut in New England, being by the provi- 
dence of God Called to Serve my King and Country in the present In- 
tended Expedition against our Northern Enemies the French, being of 
Sound and perfect mind and memory. Blessed be God therefor. Calling 
to mind the Danger of martiall life and the Mortallity of my body, Know- 
ing that it is appointed for men once to Die : Do Make and ordain this 
my last Will and Testament — that is to say Principally and first of all I 
give and Recommend my Soul into the hands of God who gave it, hoping 
for the pardon of all my Sins and the grace of God to Eternall life only 
through Christ Jesus my Glorious Redeemer, And my Body I Commit to 
the Earth to be bin-ied in decent Christian Burial, at the Discretion of 
my Executor hereafter Mentioned, nothing Doubting but at the Generall 
Resurrection I shall receave the Same again by the Mighty power of God. 
— And as Touching Such worldly goods and Estate wherewith it hath 
pleased God to bless me in this life, I give and Dispose of the Same in the 
following maner and form viz. -f- Imprimis to my dearly beloved Wife 
Ruth Paterson I give and bequeath to her and to her heirs and assigns for- 
ever the one half of a lot of land I bought of Sergt. Ebenezer Smith in the 
Sixth Division of land west of the Reserved land in Farmington and also 
all my Right in the Common and undivided land in Farmington part of 
which is already drawn for, and all my Personall Estate except my Negro 
Girl Rose, After my Just Debts are duly Discharged and paid, And also 
the use of what I shall give to my Son John Paterson in this Instrument 
untill he shall arrive at the age of Twenty one years, and the use and 
Improvement of the one half din-ing her life and she to be at the Cost of 
my son John's Education at Colledge. 

Item : to my Daughter Mary the wife of John Peirce of Litchfield 
I give and bequeath to her, her heirs and assigns forever the one half of 
a Tract of land Lying in the Parish of New Cambridge in Farmington 
which I bought of Aaron Aspinwall, and a tract of land Lying m the Town- 
ship of Harwington in Litchfield County, which I bought of Joseph Cur- 
tiss. — Item : I give to my daughter Sarah the wife of James Lusk of Far- 
mington, to her heirs and assigns I give and bequeath forever the House 
which they now live in, the Barn and home lot on which sd. Buildings 
Stand with other the appurtenances thereof, and five acres of land I bought 



APPENDIX. 411 

of Joseph Hart Junr. and Seven acres of land Lying in the Hear Meadow 
which I bought of Joseph Kellogg of New Hartford, and also all my 
right in the fourth Alotment in the first division of land West of ye re- 
served Land Containing one hundred acres, all which lands Lye in the 
bounds of the Township of Farmingtou. — Item: to my Daughter Ann 
the wife of the Reverend Stephen Holmes of [Saybrook crossed out] I 
give and bequeath to her and to her heirs and assigns forever the 
other half of that Tract of land in New Cambridge which I bought of 
Aaron Aspinwall, and my Negro girl Rose. — Item : to my Daughter Ruth 
Paterson I give and bequeath to her and to her heirs and assigns forever 
all that land which I now own which was David Curtiss' land lying West 
of Robert Woodruff's home-lot and buting South with the Remaining part 
of my Farm, West and north with highweys, and in case she do not marry 
I give her the Improvement of one fourth pai't of my dweling house, and 
one fourth part of one of my Barns. — Item : I give unto my Son John Pat- 
erson and to his heirs and assigns forever I give and bequeath the Re- 
maining part of my Farm, which I now live on with the buildings Stand- 
ing thereon and all other appurtenances thereof and five acres of Land 
in Weathersfield, which I bought of Joseph Kellogg of Weathersfield. — 
And I do hereby ordain. Make, and appoint my Wife Ruth Paterson to 
be Executrix, and my Son in Law John Peirce of Litchfield to be my 
Executor to this my last Will and Testament. In Witness whereof I 
have hereunto set my hand and Seal the Day and year above written, 
Signed, Sealed, Pronounced and Declared by the Said John Paterson 
as his last Will and Testament in presence of us Witnesses 

JNO. PATERSON 

Samuel Newkll 
Timothy Pitkin 
Ebenezer Smith 

S ExliibitBdritftJourt 
i Hartford, October 25, 1762. 
XIX. 70. 

C 

BOND OF MAJOR PATERSON AS PAYMASTER.* 

Know all men by these Presents that we John Patterson and David 
Andrews both of Torrington in the County of Hartford are holden and 
firmly do stand bound and obliged unto the Governor and Company of his 
Majesties English Colony of Connecticut in New England in the Sum of 
Two Thousand Poimds Lawfull money of the said Colony to be paid to 
the said Governor and Company to the which payment well and truly to 

* Presented to me by W. R. Benjamin of New York. 



412 APPENDIX. 

be made and done we the said John Patterson & David Andi-ews do bind 
OTirselves our Heirs Executors and administrators Joyntly and Severally 
firmly by these Presents 

Sealed with our Seals Dated at Hartford this 2d Day of April Anno 
Domini 1762 

The Condition of the above Obligation is such that whereas the said 
John Patterson hath imdertaken to act as Paymaster to a certain Com- 
pany of Foot Soldiers to be raised to serve under him and under the 
Superior Command of Sir Jeffrey Amherst the ensuing Campain and in 
his Majesties Service in the pay of this Government now if the said John 
Patterson Pay -master as aforesaid shall well and truly perform & dis- 
charge his said trust and office and without any imneeessary or unreason- 
able delay well and truly pay and render to the Severall officers and 
Soldiers of said Company all such sum or sums of money as on settlement 
of their accounts shall appear due and payable to them respectively and 
as he shall have orders from ye Pay Table to receive out of the Publick 
Treasury then and in such Case the above Obligation shall be void other- 
wise shall remain in full Power and Virtue in the Law 
Signed Sealed & Dd. in 
presence of 
John Ledyard Jno Paterson (Seal) 

Jane Ellery David Andrews (Seal) 

(Indorsed on outside) Major John Paterson 

Military Bond 1762.* 



D 

PART OF THE SUBSCRIPTION LIST TO BUILD THE COURT- 
HOUSE IN LENOX.t 

"We the subscribers do hereby promise and oblige ourselves our Heirs 
and administi'ators to pay Mr. Henry William Dwight Treasurer of the 
County of Berkshire or his successor in said office the sum affixed to our 
names respectively upon condition that the Court House and Gaol are 
built in the Town of Lenox according to the present Law of this Com- 
monwealth said payments to be made by us respectively in such materials 
and Labour as may be necessary for erecting said buildings and in such 

* This document is indorsed "Major John Paterson Military Bond 
1762," and was signed after he had been appointed a captain in the royal 
service. 

t The rest of this list cannot, owing to the age of the paper, be 
deciphered. 



APPENDIX. 413 

proportion and at such time as may be Judged best by the Committee 
who may be appointed to superintend the same. 
Witness our hands this 24th of September, 1784 : 

May 27th Paid by A E (80), John Paterson, eighty pounds. 
Dec. 16th Rec'd in full (25), Enos Stone, twenty-tive Pounds. 
Jan. 10th, 1789 Rec'd in full (20), Elias Willard, twenty Pounds. 
Jan. 17th, 1790 Rec'd (10), Lemuel Collins, Ten pounds. 
Jan. 28th, 1788 Rec'd in full (20), Elias Willard, jr., twenty Pounds. 
May 27th, 1788 Rec'd in full (50), William Walker, fifty pounds. 
Sept. 30th, 1789 Rec'd in full (50), Charles Debbel, fifty pounds. 
Jan. 15th, 1790 Rec'd in full (10), Titus Parker, Ten pounds. 

(10), Simeon Smith, ten jjounds. 

(3), Moses Nash, three poimds. 
Dee. 17th, 1788 Rec'd in full (2), of Jacob Nash, tow pounds. 
Jan. 15th, 1790 Rec'd in full (5), Simeon Parker, five pounds. 
June , 1788 Rec'd in full (20), Eldad Lewis, twenty pounds. 
Jidy, 1788 Rec'd in full (30), Caleb Hyde, Thirty Pounds. 

Aug. 20th, 1789 Rec'd in full (5), Northrup, five pounds. 

Rec'd in full, John Abel, tow shillings. 
Paid Elijah Northrup Six Pounds April 21st 1789 Rec'd in full 
(3), Jonathan Root, three pounds. 
Rec'd (10), Ebenezer Tracy, thirty shillings paid. 
(2), paid Thomas Rockwell, Forty Shillings Paid in full. 
Rec'd (5), Elijah Gates five pounds Rec'd in full. 

July 31st, 1789 Thomas , two pounds. 

Paid in full John Stoughton, two pounds, Dec. 17th, 1788 Rec'd. 
Paid Jonathan Hinsdale one pound. 
(10), Samuel Goodrich, Ten pound. 

I John WTiitlock hereby fully give the Lands I agread to with this 
Committy for setting the Statue for the Public Boundary in Lenox if the 
Buildings should be set on the groimd where the Statue was set. Together 
with Twenty Pounds to be paid, as witness my hand 

John Whitlock. 

(3), paid Daniel Fellows three pounds paid in full. 

(5), Charles Mattoon, Five pounds Rec'd in full April 18, 1788. 

July 31, 1789, Elias Judd, two pounds Rec'd in full. 

July 31, 1789, Joseph Allen, one pound Rec'd in full. 

John Hewitt, Three Pound Rec'd in full. 
Jidy 31, 1789, Seth Bateman, three Pound Rec'd in full. 
July 31, 1789, Elisha Pickney, 1 pound Rec'd in full. 

This is one of the subscription lists, a few names following which are 
illegible. 



414 APPENDIX. 

E 

APPOINTMENT OF MAJOR-GENERALS. 

MESSAGE FROM HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR, BY THE SECRETARY, 

JUNE 7, 1786.* 

Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives : 

The Major Generals chosen for the several divisions of the militia have 
respectively accepted the choice and commissions have in consequence 
of it been sent to them viz : 

To Major General Benjamin Lincoln, of the first division, comprehend- 
ing the county of Suffolk. 

To Major General Titcomh, of the second division, comprehending the 
county of Essex. 

To Major General Brooks, of the third division, comprehending the 
county of Middlesex. 

To Major General Shepard, of the fourth division, comprehending the 
county of Hampsliire. 

To Major General Cdbh, of the fifth division, comprehending the coun- 
ties of Plymouth, Barnstahlc, Bristol, Dukes Countij, and Nantucket. 

To Major General Goodwin, of the sixth di^'ision, comprehending the 
counties of York and Cumherland. 

To Major General Warner, of the seventh division, comprehending the 
county of Worcester. 

To Major General Lithgow, of the eightli division, comprehending the 
county of Lincoln. 

To Major General Patterson, of the ninth division, comprehending the 
county of Berkshire. 

F 

DEFENSE OF GENERAL PATERSON. 

In Rouse of Bepresentatives, March 5, 17S7. 

Whereas reports have been circulated respecting the conduct of Major- 
General Paterson whilst commanding a corps of militia in the County of 
Berkshire in February last, injurious to that officer, and whereas the dig- 
nity of the Government, as well as of Major-General Paterson, requires 
an investigation of the facts relative to this matter ; therefore 

* Massachusetts Resolves, vol. vii., p. 18. 



APPENDIX. 415 

Resolved, That His Excelleuey the Governor be and he is hereby re- 
quested to order a Court of Inquiry to be instituted for the purpose of as- 
certaining the merit or demerit of Major-General Paterson whilst com- 
manding a corps of militia of the Commonwealth, called forth to suppress 
the late insurrection and rebellion, and that such further proceedings be 
adopted as in the opinion of His Excellency may be requisite for support- 
ing the honor of Government, and for doing justice to the said officer. 

Sent up for concurrence in Senate, March 5, 1787. 

Artemus "Ward, Speaker, 
Kead and non-concurred. 

Samuel Phillips, Juu. President.* 

{Letter from camp to a friend.) 

PiTTSFiELD, Mass., February 12, 1787. 
General Paterson, you have heard, was suspected of doing wrong in 
making a treaty. We find that the report was ill founded and that he 
did all he was at that time authorized to do. He ordered Major Wiley, 
who commanded the rebels, to disperse his jjeople immediately or he 
would fire upon them. Wiley immediately ordered his people to disperse, 
which they did. Wiley then requested General Paterson to promise his 
exertions in favor of himself and people with the Government that they 
might be tried for their conduct in this county. The General promised 
he would, but they must expect nothing more, for he could not give them 
any other assurance than his own personal recommendation, as he had 
no authority to do any such thing. I believe the affair has been repre- 
sented very much to his disadvantage. He had not received any informa- 
tion of their being declared in a state of rebellion. t 



G 

DIARY OF THE SERVICES OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN 
PATERSON. 

(Compiled from the American Archives, Jom-nals of the Provincial Con- 
gresses, Orderlj'-books and Muster-rolls at Worcester and 
Boston, Manuscripts in the State House in Boston, 
Yale, and Connecticut in the Revolution.) 

1774. May Great and General Court. 

1774. July 6 Berkshire Convention at Stockbi-idge, Mass. 

1774. October 7 First Continental Congress, Salem, Mass. 

* Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxc, p. 140. 
+ Worcester Mai/a~i)ie. vol. ii.. No. 47. 



416 APPENDIX. 

1775. February 1 . . . Second Continental Congress, Cambridge, Mass. 

1775. May Eeturns of Field-officer Colonel John Paterson. 

Lists of captains, ensigns, and lieutenants. (David 
Noble was one of the captains and A. Egleston 
was in his company.) 

1775. May 26 List of officers in Colonel Paterson's returns. 

1775. May 26 "To the Hon. Provincial Congress. Colonel Pat- 
erson ha\'ing satisfied this committee that his 
regiment is nearly full, we recommend to the 
Hon. Congress that said regiment be commis- 
sioned accordingly. Wm. Cooper, Secretary." 

1775. June 9 Cambridge. Consignment of arms to Colonel Pat- 
erson. 

1775. June 10 Cambridge. 

1775. June 30 A petition sent to Congress by Colonel Patei'son 

asking for blankets for soldiers. 

1775. July 10 Colonel Paterson's regiment reports one wounded 

at Bunker Hill. 

1775. July 22 Headquarters at Cambridge. Colonel Paterson will 

remain at Post No. 3, by order of General Wash- 
ington. 

1775. August 18. . . .Cambridge. Colonel Paterson's regiment, total, 506. 

1775. September 23. Cambridge. Colonel Paterson's regiment, total, 445. 

1775. October 3 Colonel Paterson's regiment, total, 445. 

1775. October 6 .... Continental 26th regiment of foot, Colonel John 
Paterson, of Lenox. 

1775. October 17 . . .Cambridge. 

1775. November 2. .Headquarters Cambridge. To select colonels for 
command in new regiments. 

1775. December 30 .Cambridge. Colonel Paterson's regiment, total, 459. 

1776. January 8 . . . . Cambridge. 

1776. Janiiary 15. . .Eeturns of Colonel Paterson. 
1776. January 24. . .In Barracks on Prospect Hill. 
1776. February 19. .Cambridge. Colonel Paterson's regiment returned 

ammunition. 
1776. April 15 Eeturns of Colonel Paterson's regiment in New 

York. 
1776. May Four regiments (Poor's, Paterson's, Greaton's, 

and Bond's) by order of Congress detached to 

Canada. 
1776. May 24 First brigade. Poor, Paterson, Greaton, and Bond, 

arrived at Albany on their way to Canada. 
1776. June 2 Montreal. Colonel Paterson's list of prisoners in 

his regiment at battle of the Cedars. 
1776. July 22. Ticonderoga. 



APPENDIX. 417 

1777. Jauuary 1 to "Coutineutal service of General Paterson. By- 
Dec. 31, 1779. service from January, 1777, to December 31, 1779, 

is 36 months and days, for which a nominal 

sum has been paid him by the continent. 

"One month and 20 days as colonel and 3-i 
months and 10 days as brigadier-general. 

"By service from January 1, 1780, to Decem- 
ber S'lst, is 12 months, at 37 pounds 10 shillings 
per month, as brigadier-general." 
1777. February 21. .Date of commission as brigadier-general. 

1777. March 26 Colonel John Paterson in list of commissioned offi- 

cers. 

1778. June 28 Monmouth, under General Washington. 

1778. December 6. .at Peekskill. 

1779. May 27 at Peekskill. 

1779. September . . .at West Point (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1779. October at West Point (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1779. November . . .at West Point (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1779. December. . . .at West Point (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1780. January at West Point (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1780. February ... .at West Point (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1780. March at West Point (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1780. April at West Point (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1780. April 29 with two companies at Fishkill (3d Massachusetts 

Brigade). 

1780. May 6 at Fishkill (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1780. June at Fishkill (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1780. July at Fishkill (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1780. August at Peekskill (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1780. September . . .at Peekskill (3d Massachusetts Brigade). 

1780. September 16 at Steenrapie, N. J. 

1780. September 20 and 23, at Orangetown, N. Y. 

1780. October 8 .... at Fishkill, N. Y. 

1780. November 12 at Totoway, N. J, 

1780. December ... .at Huts, West Point. 

1781. January 1 at New Windsor. 

1781. January at West Point Huts (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1 781. February at West Point Huts (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1781. March at West Point Huts (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1781. April at West Point Huts (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1781. May at West Point Huts (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1781. June at West Point Huts (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1781. July Order of battle. Camp Philipsburg, near Dobbs' 

Ferry. "From Peekskill the troops returned 
down toward New York and took position af 



418 APPENDIX. 

Philipsbui'g, 5th, 8th, and 2d Massaehusetta, un- 
der Brigadier-General Patersou. (Signed) Ma- 
jor-General Lincoln." 

1781. July 21 at Verplanck's and Stony Point. 

1781. August at West Point (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1781. September . . .at West Point (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1781. October at West Point (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1781. November . . .at New Windsor (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1781. December at Verplanck's Point, with General Washington 

(1st Massachusetts Bi-igade). 

1782. January at New York Huts (1st MassacMisetts Brigade). 

1782. February at New York Huts (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1782. March at New York Huts (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1782. April at New York Huts (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1782. May at New York Huts (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1782. June at West Point (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1782. Jidy at West Point (1st Massachusetts Brigade). 

1782. August at West Point (1st Massachiisetts Brigade). 

1782. August to Order of battle. 2d Brigade of Massachusetts, 

October under General Paterson ; Major-General Howe's 

division, under General Heath. 

1782. September .. .in camp at Verplanck's. In this new encampment 
the armj^ remained through September and greater 
part of October, making progi'ess in drill and dis- 
cipline. 

1782. October in camp at Verplanck's. 

1782. November ... at New Windsor. 

1782. December at New Windsor. 

1782 Camp, Verplanck's Point. 

1783. Jamiary at New Windsor. 

1783. February at New Windsor. 

1783. March at Newburg. 

1783. April at Newburg. 

1783. May at Newburg. 

1783. Summer Dissolution of Eevolutionary army. The four 

Massachusetts regiments were retained to serve 
until the end of the war, December, 1783. 

1783. June at Newburg. 

1783. July at Philadelphia. 

1783. August at Philadelphia. 

1783. September ... at Philadelphia. 

1783. September 25. Philadelphia. Troops to return to West Point to- 
morrow, and General Howe takes this oppor- 
tunity to express his high aijpreeiation of the 
conduct of the officers. 



APPENDIX. 419 



1783. October at headquarters, West Point. 

1783. November at headquarters, West Poiut. 

1783. December at headquarters, West Point. 



H 



UNVEILING OF THE PATEESON MONUMENT AT LENOX, 
MAY 30th, 1892, BEING DECORATION DAY. 

The idea of removing the remains of General Paterson and his wife to 
Lenox, from which town he had rendered to the country his most distin- 
guished services, in which his family had lived during the whole of the 
Revolutionary War, and of erecting a suitable monument to him and my 
grandfather. Major Egleston, originated many years ago. It could not, 
however, be carried out because it had never been possible to obtain the 
consent of the heirs of General Paterson, principally because there had 
been a plan to remove his remains to Rochester, New York, and to erect 
a suitable monument in the cemetery there. This plan failed in the year 
1885 owing to the death of the originator of it. There was still, however, 
an unwillingness on the part of some of the heirs to have the remains 
removed. In the year 1886 I determined, if I could obtain the consent of 
the heirs and of the owners of the plots in which they were buried, to 
erect the monument. I made but little progress, however, imtil 1890, 
when I succeeded in eliciting the interest of W. H. Lee of New York, 
who is a distant relative of General Paterson's wife. He succeeded in 
getting the co-operation of Miss Maria Paterson Kilbouru, of Spencerport, 
N. Y., and of her sister, Mrs. Da^as, of Yonkers, N. Y., who are grand- 
daughters of General Paterson's daughter Maria, and in whose plot at 
Spencei'port Mrs. Paterson had been buried, who after some trouble ob- 
tained the consent in writing. The consent of the town of Lenox was 
then asked to erect the monument in the small park at the top of the 
coiu't-house hill, directly in front of the house which General Paterson 
built for himself, which was granted at a town meeting held April 6, 1889, 
when the following resolution was passed : 

"Voted to allow Thomas Egleston to erect and maintain in the public 
square a monument to the memory of General John Paterson, provided 
the same be erected to the approval of a committee of the town to be 
appointed by the moderator. 

''R. T. Auchmuty, William D. Curtis, and Henry Sedgwick were ap- 
pointed that committee. 

" [A true copy.] 

"I. J. Newtox, Town Clerk." 



420 APPENDIX, 

The order for the execution of the monument, which had been designed 
by Thomas Egleston, of New York, was then given to R. Fisher & Co., of 
New York City. 

At a special town meeting held in Lenox, May 12, 1892, it was 

"Voted that the same committee, with Charles Carey and the select- 
men added, be a committee of arrangements for the reception of the 
remains of Geneva! Paterson and Decoration Day exercises. 

"Voted to raise and appropriate $600 (six hundred dollars) in addition 
to the sum already appropriated for Decoration Day services, and that 
these appropriations be expended by the committee. 

" [A true copy.] 

"I. J. Newton, Town Clerk." 

On May 24, 1892, General Paterson's remains were removed from 
Whitney's Point, and the next day* the remains of Mrs. Paterson were 
removed from Spencerport. They arrived in Lenox on Thursday, May 
26th, and were placed side by side in the northeast room of the house 
wliich they had built and lived in during their residence in Lenox, and 
where they had spent so many pleasant years in the early history of the 
town. This room, as it used to be when they were accustomed to be 
together in it, is tilled with the morning sim. The remains were draped 
with the United States flag. They remained here, after more than sev- 
enty years of separation, bajthed in sunshine, until Monday morning. 
The sight was a very impressive one, and one could not help a feeling of 
gladness that they who had been so imited in life should be brought to- 
gether again in their own house, in the room where they had so often en- 
joyed not only the sunshine of their day but the happiness of conjugal 
affection, as well as the dutiful love of their children. The respect with 
which these remains were treated by all the railroad officials, and the 
alacrity with which every wish was met and every formality gone through 
with, was gi'atifying in the extreme. 

Owing to various delays, the monument and the grounds aroimd it 
were not finished until late on Saturday night. The remains were to be 
reinterred on Decoration Day, which occurred on Monday. Before start- 
ing, the War Department at Washington had been asked for a detail of 
United States troops to do the last honors over General Paterson's grave. 
The correspondence relating to the subject is given below : 

"War Department, Washington, May 6, 1892. 
" Sir : As requested in your letter of the 2d instant, I have the honor 
to advise you that the necessary orders will be issued for the Command- 

* At the request of Mr. W. H. Lee, of New York, Mrs. Paterson's 
remains were removed at his exjiense. 



APPENDIX. 421 

ing General of the Department of the East to send a Company from New- 
York Harbor to Lenox to do honor to the remains of the late Major Gen- 
eral John Patersou of the Revolutionary Army upon the occasion of their 
reinterment at Lenox. 

"Very respectfully, 

"L. A. Grant, 

"Acting Secretary of War. 
"Dr. Thomas Egleston, 

"Columbia College, 

"Forty-ninth Street and Fourth Avenue, 

"New York City." 

"Headquarters Department op the East, 

"Governor's Island, New York City, May 12, 1892. 

"Special Orders, No. 59. 

[extract.] 

" 2. Under insti'uctions received from the Major General Commanding 
the Army, to send a company from New York Harbor to Lenox, Mass., 
to do honor to the remains of Major General Pa terson, of the Revolution- 
ary Army, on their reinterment there on Memorial Day, May 30, 1892, 
Company A, 6th Infantry, will proceed to Lenox, Mass., in season to 
perform this duty there upon the day appointed. 

"Captain A. M. WetlieriU, commanding the company, will confer with 
Dr. Thomas Egleston, Columbia College, 49th Street and 4th Avenue, New 
York City, as to the details of the ceremony. 

" Upon the comijletion of the duty required at Lenox, Mass., the com- 
pany will return to its station at Fort Wood. 

" By command of Major General Howard : 

"Geo. D. Ruggles, 
"Official : "Assistant Adjutant General. 

"G. W. Macdonald, 
"Aide-de-camj). 
"Dr. Thos. Egleston, 
"N. Y. City." 

"Fort Wood, Bedloe's Island, 
"New York, May 14, 1892. 
"To Dr. TJtomas Egleston, 
"Columbia College, 

" Forty -ninth Street and Fourth Avenue, New York. 
" Sir : I have been directed by General Howard, commanding the 
Department of the East, to confer with you in relation to the details of 
the ceremony connected with the reinterment of the remains of Major 
General Paterson of the Revolutionary Armv. 



422 APPENDIX. 

' ' Will you kindly appoint an houi* when I can see you, either in New 
York or here, so that I may have a full understanding as to the time of 
leaving, arrangements for the accommodation of my company, and all 
particulars connected with the duty? 
" Very respectfully 

"Your obedient servant, 

"A. M. Wetherill, 
* "Captain 6th Infantry, Commanding." 

The town had been decorated with great taste by the c-ommittee and 
the citizens. The buildings on the line of the main street were profusely 
ornamented with flowers, flags, and bunting. On the old eoiu't-house was 
a large tablet with the inscription : 

Berkshire County Court House 

1791 

Built hy Suhscription. 

General Paterson, £80. 

On Monday morning, the 30th instant, the troops arrived in Lenox. 
The graves had been previously prepared and the headstones of white 
Italian marble were placed in position. At twelve o'clock the remains of 
Mrs. Paterson were carried to the cemetery and placed in the Egleston 
plot, where two of her children, her son-in-law, and one grandchild had 
been previously buiied. A tent had been erected on the green, between 
Sedgwick Hall and the Curtis Hotel, where Colonel Auehmuty and the 
reception committee received the visitors. By one o'clock several thou- 
sand people from all parts of the county and from adjacent States had 
assembled to witness the ceremony. They were in carriages, on horse- 
back, and on foot. While the various delegations were arriving and 
being assigned to their respective positions in the line of march the band 
played several airs. 

The programme of the ceremonies as ai'ranged by the committee was 
as follows : 

1. Eeception of military companies, Grand Army posts, local and 
visiting societies and invited guests, by the Committee of Arrangements 
at Sedgwick Hall at 2 o'clock p.m. 

2. Procession to form near Trinity Church at 2.30; line of march up 
Walker Street to Main to the Egleston house where General Paterson 
lived, where the remains of General Paterson will be met and escorted 
to the gi'ave by Company A, 6th U. S. Infantry, up Main to the cemetery. 

3. Decoration of soldiers' graves. 

4. Unveiling of the monument. 



APPENDIX. 423 

5. Presentation of the monument to the town hy Dr. Egleston. 

6. Address by Hon. Joseph Tucker, of Pittsfield, from a platform in 
front of Sedgwick Hall. 

The line when formed marched to the cemetery in the following order : 

Chief Marshal J. W. Cooney. 

His Aides, John W. Cooney, Jr., and Harvey H. Dewey. 

Germania band of Pittsfield. 

Company A, 6th Kegiment U. S. Infantry. 

Remains of General Paterson. 

Company M of Adams, Massachusetts Militia. 

Father Mathew Cadets of Pittsfield. 

Father Mathew Cadets of Lee. 

Bartlett Camp Sons of Veterans of Pittsfield. 

Grand Army Veterans. 

"Mrs. Gaines," Colonel Auchmuty's war-horse.* 

Carriages containing speakers and distinguished guests. 

One hundred and fifty young women dressed in white and carrying 

flowers. 

St. Joseph's band of Pittsfield. 

Battalion of school children carrying flags. 

Ancient Order of Hibernians, Societies of Lenox and Lee. 

Among the guests in carriages were : Colonel Walter Cutting, repre- 
senting Governor Eussell, Colonel R. T. Auchmuty, William Mahanna, 
C. E. Casey, Hon. Joseph Tucker, the orator of the day. Professor Thomas 
Egleston, who gave the monument to the tow^l, Rev. W. M. Grosvenor, 
Selectman Edward McDonald, General Wilson, Sheriff John Crosby, 
W. H. Lee, Professor J. S. Schanck of Princeton College, W. D. Curtis, 
Edwin S. BaiTett of Concord and Nathan Warren of Waltham, president 
and registrar respectively of the Massachusetts Sons of the Revolution, 
Colonel C. M. Whelden, representing the department G. A. R. council of 
administration, and General Morris Schaff, representing West Point. 
Among other prominent gentlemen present were Senator Hickox of 
northern Berkshire, County Treasurer George H. Tucker, Hon. Mar- 
shall Wilcox, District Attorney Hibbard, Levi Beebe, J. C. West, J. P. 
Quigley of Lee, R. H. McDonald of Housatonic, W. Paterson of South 
Amboy, N. J., a descendant of Chief -Justice Paterson, Henry Bishop of 
Chicago, and Mr. and Mrs. Booth of New Britain. 



* This horse was captured at the battle of Gaines's Mills and was used 
by Colonel Auchmtity during the rest of the Civil War. She was then 
thirty-six years old. Though quite gray, she is quite spirited. No work 
is required of her ; she enjoys an honored old age, and is a feature in 
every public occasion in the to^ni. 



424 APPENDIX. 

Of the descendants of General Paterson who were present were Miss 
Maria Paterson Kilbourn of 8i)encerport, N. Y., and her sister, Mrs. E. T. 
Davis of Yonkers, N. Y., descendants of his daughter Maria ; Thomas 
Egleston of New York, descended from his daughter Hannah ; Dr. J. 
Schanck of Princeto^i, whose wife, Maria Bobbins, was the daughter of 
Hannah Paterson's eldest daughter ; and Mr. William H. Lee of New 
York, a connection of Mrs. General Paterson. 

The parade formed at half-past two opposite Trinity Church and went 
up Walker to Main Street. On reaching Dr. Egleston 's house the military 
companies formed a hollow square, the soldiers presented arms, and the 
column was broken to receive the remains of General Paterson, which 
were in an oak coffin, covered with the United States flag. They were 
placed between Company A, 6th U. S. Infantry, and Company M of 
Adams. The line was then re-formed. The column moved up Main 
Street, almost every house of which was gayly decorated, the bands play- 
ing martial music. When in line the procession reached from the monu- 
ment to the foot of the chiirch hill. 

The military formed about the grave. Company M of Adams on the 
north and the U. S. Infantry on the east. The coffin was lowered into 
the grave by Colonel Schaff, Colonel W^elden, Colonel Adelbert Delaud 
and Charles H. Rathburn from the Housatonic Grand Army Post. The 
Rev. Mr. Grosvenor read the collect for All-Saints' Day and for Eas- 
ter Even. The U. S. troops fired three volleys over the grave. The 
graves of the soldiers of the Revolution, of the War of 1812, and of the 
Civil War were then decorated with flowers and flags, and the column 
re-formed and marched down Main Street and around the monument, 
which at the sound of the bugle was imveiled. The lines were then 
broken opposite the speaker's stand, built in front of Sedgwick Hall. 
Seats had been prepared for the speakers and invited guests on the plat- 
form, and settees in front of the platform, but the crowd was so great 
that the seats prepared were all filled and a great crowd assembled upon 
the outside. After selections had been played by the Germania Band, 
Colonel Auchmuty introduced Colonel Walter Cutting, who had been sent 
as the representative of the Governor of Massachusetts, he being unable 
to attend. Colonel Cutting said it gave him gi*eat pleasure to be sent on 
such a duty as to represent His Excellency, the Governor of the State, 
first, because the Governor had honored him with such a commission, 
and second, because he always enjoyed coming to Lenox, and was ex- 
tremely pleased in seeing the people engaged in such patriotic duties as 
occupied their attention now. He expressed for Governor Russell his 
great regret at being unable to be present on this occasion. 

Colonel Auchmuty thanked him in the name of the town of Lenox for 
the kind words he had spoken and for the message which the Governor had 
sent. He then presented Dr. Egleston. who was received with applause. 



APPENDIX. 425 

Ou rising, Dr. Egleston said : 

"Colonel Auchumty, ladies and gentlemen: I take great pleasure in 
presenting to the town of Lenox this monument which I have erected to 
the memory of Major-General Paterson, who was a citizen and a worthy 
representative of this town before, dui-ing, and after the Eevolutionary 
War. It is a monument not only to him, but to integi-ity, honor, and patri- 
otism as well, and will, I hope, be a perpetual reminder to old and young 
that the State of Massachusetts, the county of Berkshire, and the town of 
Lenox have always had a prominent place in the defense of liberty, honor, 
and justice, and have always quickly and enthusiastically responded with 
both treasure and men when the coimtry has called for defenders of its 
liberties. General Paterson heard of the battle of Lexington here in 
Lenox on Friday at noon, and Saturday morning at sunrise he started 
with his regiment for Boston, and from that time never left the army 
until it was disbanded in December, 1783. He held the highest rank of 
any soldier from Berkshire County, and was the youngest officer of his 
gi-ade, except Lafayette, in the Eevolutionary army. When the State 
called on him for service during Shays' Rebellion in 1786-87 he answered 
as promptly. It is my intention to place a sum of money in the hands of 
trustees as an endowment fund for the proper care and preservation of 
this monument, so tliat it may be no cost to the town, and may go down 
to posterity to remind both the present and future generations to aspire 
to high aims and noble deeds." 

Colonel Auchmuty responded for the town, and said that at the next 
town meeting the monument would be accepted. He said that the shaft 
would stand for hundreds of years, to show that those are best remem- 
bered who serve their country and do their duty. He then introduced 
Judge Tucker as a brave soldier, an upright judge, and a loj'al citizen, 
one who, like General Paterson, went forth from this town at the call to 
arms. Judge Tucker was greeted with prolonged applause, and he 
stepped forward and spoke as follows :* 

* Hon. Joseph Tucker was born in Lenox, Mass. ; gi'aduated at Will- 
iams' College in 1851 ; was admitted to the Berkshire bar in 1854 ; prac- 
ticed law in St. Louis, Mo., till 1860 ; enlisted in the 49th Massachusetts 
regiment in August, 1862 ; was appointed first lieutenant of Company 7 D 
of that regiment in October, 1862 ; went with the regiment to Louisiana 
in January, 1863 ; in March was appointed as aide on the staff of the first 
brigade of the first di\T.sion of the Army of the Gulf ; on May 21st, 1863, 
lost his right leg at the battle of Plains' Store, near Port Hudson, La. ; 
was a member of the Massachusetts Hoiise of Representatives in 1865 ; 
was a member of the Massachusetts Senate in 1866 and 1867 ; was United 
States register in bankruptcy in 1867 and 1868; was Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts from 1869 to 1872, inclusive ; has been justice of 
the district court of central Berkshire since 1872. 



426 APPENDIX. 



SPEECH OF JUDGE TUCKER OF PITTSFIELD AT THE 
DEDICATION OF THE PATERSON MONUMENT. 

(Lenox, May 30, 1892.) 

Nature is gnnng us our annual object-lesson : out of 
apparent death young life is springing; over the skeleton 
trees, over the bleak, harsh earth, she is weaving soft, flowing 
draperies beautiful in color and outline ; out of ugliness has 
come beauty. Lenox is arrayed as a bride coining from her 
chamber. This fresh, joyous life of nature reacts upon our 
life ; as pure and limpid water, released from its winter bonds 
by this summer sun, gladly bubbles up from our hillside 
springs and dresses the turf in living green, so our hearts, 
released from wintry bonds of selfishness, overflow with good- 
will. Especially do we now remember our dead. We dislike 
to see their graves covered with snow and ice, to hear the 
fierce winds of winter blowing over them. "When we see the 
tender grass softly covering them, hear the soft May winds 
singing gentle requiems over them, we are comforted ; we 
feel that somehow nature has a message also for them. Per- 
haps these thoughts may have caused the selection of this 
day for Memorial Day in memory of our dead. Most of the 
dead in j'onder cemetery belong especially to some family, 
but these served for us all, for yon, for unborn generations, 
and so they are onr dead. If this be true, can we do less 
than set apart one day in the lovely springtime in which by 
public and stately ceremonial the people, in whose service 
many of them died, shall make solemn testimonial in memory 
of their self-sacrifice! This is surely good public policy. 
Americans are notable the world over for theh' tremendous 
earnestness in business ; their whole being is utterly en- 
grossed in it ; they have no leisure ; regard holidays as time 
wasted ; and are so bound up in the material things of the 
world that they tend toward a contempt of the higher things 
of the spirit. They are apt to forget that om- splendid 



APPENDIX. 427 

material success is almost wholly due to the spiritual forces 
which only materialize in the presence and at the call of 
humble and devout seekers after truth. The body is power- 
fully influenced b}' what it feeds upon; likewise the spirit. 
It is wholesome to turn away, when possible, from private 
interests and dwell upon wearisome, dangerous, unselfish 
action. In a vast majority of cases a simple love of country 
was the controlling motive Avhich actuated and glorified our 
dead. No one can catch even a glimpse of the true signi- 
ficance of these ceremonies without an upHfted ideal of a 
true life, a more vivid conception of the true meaning of the 
stars and stripes. 

On this Memorial Day we of middle age and beyond natu- 
rally are much engTossed by our thoughts and memories of 
the late war, in which we were either actors or spectators. 
We have been so impressed by its magnitude, by the vital 
importance of its issues, and the costly sacrifices it demanded, 
that we nearly forget the remote past, when the institutions 
we so gloriously defended were founded by the wisdom, the 
blood of our fathers. A nation of thirty millions, strong, 
rich, possessed of all the appliances of modern science, con- 
smned four years of bloody war to preserve the edifice which 
cost three millions of poor colonists seven years of bloody 
war and untold sacrifices to build. A generation has grown 
to matmity since the surrender at Appomattox, yet we can 
almost hear the rhythmic cadence of battahous marchmg past 
om* doors to the front. At thousands of fii*esides the veteran 
has shouldered his crutch and told to admiring childi*en how 
fields were won. The prose, poetry, and oratory of tliis gen- 
eration have teemed with eulogy of om* heroes. Not until 
quite lately have we begun to study the remote results of 
this war, to investigate its remote causes. To do tliis intel- 
ligently we have to go back to the beginning. Never before 
have the principles of scientific historical criticism been re- 
lentlessly applied to oui- past; in the flood of light thus 
focused upon them, our heroes of the Revolution are seen, 
not dimly and vaguely, but clearly, in their true heroic pro- 



428 APPENDIX. 

portions. A clearer perception of the results of the War of 
the Rebellion has awakened us to the priceless value of the 
War of the Revolution. Berkslm-e in those old days was a 
frontier settlement ; its sparse population was largely settled 
on its farms. Not one large village was within its borders ; 
its centers of trade we should now call hamlets. The first 
permanent settler in Lenox came here only twenty-five years 
before that war ; within twenty years before it, the people of 
Lenox were driven away by fear of the Indians. Its people 
had the characteristics of the frontier of that day : they had 
brawn, courage, brains, and force of character, and were a 
religious people. Their leaders had these qualities. The 
captains of New England were men of eminent sagacity and 
wisdom. The town records of tliose days are rich in wise 
statesmanship and fervent patriotism. The English states- 
man Burke said, '^ The chief function of a government is to 
administer justice." England by new laws decreed that 
councilors and judges of higher courts of Massachusetts 
held their offices at the king's pleasure. The governor was 
a creature of the king ; the sherilf a creatui'e of the governor ; 
the jurors, formerly selected by the towns, were now to be 
appointed by the sheriff. Thus the king alone administered 
justice. This was a direct blow at a most sacred right. 
Berkshire was prompt to lead in finding a remedy. The 
first county court to be held in Massachusetts, after the new 
laws were enacted, was on the third Tuesday of August, 1774, 
at Great Barrington ; on that day fifteen hundred men as- 
sembled, unarmed, at Great Barrington, and '' filled the com-t- 
house and the avenues to it so full that no passage could be 
found for the judges." The sheriff commanded the people 
to make way for the court ; the reply was, '' We know no 
court except that pro\'ided by our ancient laws ; the com't 
must leave town." It did depart. No coui't under a royal 
commission ever sat again in Berkshire. Thus a complete 
act of revolution, striking at the chief function of govern- 
ment, was perpetrated here long before the war, more de- 
structive of the kiuff's authoritv than the destruction of the 



APPENDIX. , 429 

tea iu Boston Harbor, I speak of it as showing \ividly what 
kind of men laid the foundation of Berkshire institutions. 

It is the peculiar felicity of this occasion that on this day, 
set apart by the statutes of Massachusetts and by the unani- 
mous sentiment of its people to renew our annual tribute to 
our dead soldiers, we can, iu addition to our usual ceremonies, 
and as a fitting and gi*ateful sequel to them, dedicate a per- 
manent, beautiful, and artistic Memorial of the most distin- 
guished soldier of Berkshire — I might perhaps truthfully say, 
of western Massachusetts — in the War of the Revolution. 
In our natui'al pride and satisfaction in om* recent tri- 
umphant defense of the government, we are conscious of a 
certain neglect of those great men who created it; and so 
to-day we single out a representative man, of Lenox and 
Berkshire in the War of the Revolution, for especial honor. 

In these days no one can escape an immediate and indelible 
record of his public, and most of his private, acts. The 
omnipresent reporter flashes them to the daily press, which 
presents them to the world for judgment. In the Ci\'il War, 
on the day after a battle, the people at home knew more of 
its details than those engaged in it; brave deeds, great 
services, had immediate and permanent record. In those 
days no one at home knew anything about a gi'eat battle 
for perhaps weeks, and not then except by a chance letter or 
a wandering soldier. There was no daily press and hardly a 
post-office. To know the deeds of their soldiers the people 
must rely on tradition or search dry official reports. We 
should bear this in mind when we examine the record of the 
man whom we especially remember to-day — 

Major- General John Paterson of Lenox. 

Many men are quite fortunate in their ancestors ; not so 
many ancestors are very fortunate in their descendants. His 
grandson Thomas Egleston left Lenox in early manhood, 
and became one of the great merchants of New York, witli 
aU the great qualities of those merchants of his day. His 



4:30 APPENDIX. 

four great-grandsons are well known here to be worthy of 
tlieii' ancestry. The memory of Henry Egleston is dear m 
many Berkshire hearts. The mention of General Paterson 
in our histories is quite vague, and seems to depend mainly 
on tradition. Dr. Thomas Egleston, a great-grandson, and 
a distinguished member of the scientific department of Col- 
umbia College, has long engaged in a laborious and elaborate 
search of original official documents, libraries, colonial annals, 
and all other possible sources of information, and has gathered 
a number of very interesting facts, from which he has made 
an admirable sketch of the life and services of General Pat- 
erson (which I trust will soon be published). I shall avail 
myself of these facts to make a brief, sharp outline of his 
civil and military career. His gTandfather came from Scot- 
land, was one of the first settlers of Wethersfield, Conn., and 
married there in 1704. John Paterson, father of the General, 
moved to that part of Farmington, Conn., now known as 
New Britain, and there married. He was well educated, and 
a large owner of land ; had much military ability ; was a 
memljer of the local train bands in his youth ; served with 
distinction, as a captain, under Wolfe in the French and 
Indian Wars ; served as Captain under Lord Albemarle in 
the West Indies ; was present at the capture of Havana, and 
died there of yeUow fever in 1762, with a brilliant record. 
John Paterson, his only son, was born in Farmington, Conn., 
in 1744 ; graduated at Yale in 1762, studied law there, and 
practiced his profession there successful^. 

In 1766 he married Miss Elizabeth Warren Lee of that 
town. She was a woman of gi'eat force of character, and 
very charming in person and manner. Early in 1774 he 
came with his family to Lenox. He was then thirty years 
old, over six feet in height, a nervous, active man, very 
powerful, and a noted pedestrian. On July 6tli of that year a 
congress of delegates from aU the towns of the county, made 
up of their ablest men, met in Stockliridge. John Ashley 
of Sheffield presided; Theodore Sedgwick of Stockbridge 
was clerk; John Paterson was a delegate. The famous 



APPENDIX. 431 

"Solemn League and Covenant" was adopted. It was the 
foundation of the Massachusetts rebelhon. This was a 
covenant "not to import, purchase, or consume any goods 
or manufactures which shall arrive from Great Britain from 
and after the 1st of October next ; any person refusing to 
sign it is to be treated with all the neglect deserved; any 
shopkeeper refusing to sign is not to be traded with." We 
should call this a boj'-cot. Within ten days Mr. Paterson 
obtained the signatures of one hundi-ed and ten men of 
Lenox to this treasonable paper. In August was the meet- 
ing in Great Barrington I have spoken of ; there is no record 
that John Paterson was there, but I am absolutely sm-e he 
was. He was planned that way. I am confident that it was 
quietly arranged for at the Stockbridge Congress, though 
Colonel Ashley, the chairman, was one of the judges. In 
September Governor Gage warned the people to elect repre- 
sentatives to the General Court to be held October 5th, at 
Salem ; after the election he revoked the caU, being alarmed 
by the instructions of many towns to their representatives. 
John Paterson was elected by Lenox, and was instructed to 
proceed to Salem, and if the governor appeared, to unite 
with hun in finding a remedy for pubhc ■s\Tongs ; if he did 
not appear, to go on without him. He did not appear, and 
after waiting for him one day, the legislature proceeded to 
declare itself a Provincial Congi'ess, and went on just as if 
there were no governor — another act of high treason. Mr. 
Paterson was ordered to investigate the condition of the 
commissary department, and thus got full knowledge of the 
resom-ces of the pro\ince, so that when he came home, Lenox, 
doubtless on his motion, appointed him one of a commit- 
tee to prociu'e grain for public use, and appropriated twenty 
pounds sterling to buy a stock of ammunition. He was then 
convinced that war was coming, and resolved that his home 
should be ready for it. In January, 1775, he was again 
elected. This time they did not wait a call from the gover- 
nor ; the people called their representatives for the first time 
in Massachusetts. Februarv 14th he offered a resolution to 



432 APPENDIX. 

send an agent to Canada to induce that people to combine 
with us. John Brown of Pittsfield was appointed agent. He 
was on a committee to revise the commission of the " Com- 
mittee of Safety and SuppHes." This was important work, 
as that committee was the executive head of the people ; it 
took the place of the governor. April 24th he was placed 
on this committee for this county. He was very active in all 
military matters, then of the highest importance. 

I submit that this is a remarkable record. He came here 
early in 1774 ; witliin eighteen months he was a delegate to 
perhaps the most important convention ever held in this 
county, certainly the most perilous ; was twice a represent- 
ative of the town ; was a j^rominent member ; was made a 
member of the Executive Committee of the province; was 
conspicuous in persuading his people to rebel against their 
government. It may be suggested that probably he was a 
plausible, pushing ofBce-seeker ; on the contrary, he was a 
pecuharly modest, reticent man, never pushing himself. It 
is certain he never forgot he was a gentleman. No ! he was 
a born leader and organizer of men. It was a solemn time 
in Massachusetts. They were a loyal people ; they beheved 
the king would redress their- wrongs if bad men did not inter- 
vene. Most of them condemned the Boston tea-party of the 
year before, but the relentless logic of events swept them on : 
they signed the League and Covenants ; they abolished the 
coui'ts ; they formed a new government. Then came the 
logical conclusion, the clash of arms. This was no time for 
demagogues ; it was too early for that crop : earnest, honest, 
able men were sought for. They instinctively said, '' Here is 
a man we need." The war had come, and he had long 
awaited it ; he with other noted men of the county prepared 
the people for it. Between the First and Second Congresses 
he had been active in recruiting, equipping, and drilling a 
Berkshire regiment of minute-men, to be ready at a mo- 
ment's notice. He became their colonel. 

The battle of Lexington occurred on Wednesday, April 
19th ; the news, coming by relays of couriers, reached Lenox 



APPENDIX. 433 

Friday noou; on Saturday, April 22d, at suurise, Colonel 
Paterson marched for Cambridge with a regiment fully 
armed and equipped, nearly every man in uniform. This 
beats the record of the early march of Massachusetts men in 
1861, which brought much honor to the State. It was done 
without the aid of steam or Ughtning ; there must have been 
some rough riding over these hills the night before. June 
15th the regiment became the 15th Foot of the Continental 
Infantry. It built a fort where now is the city of SomerviUe, 
and there remained to guard the flank of the army through 
the fight at Bunker HiU and until the evacuation of Boston, 
and then marched with Washington to Staten Island. April 
13, 1776, it was ordered to Canada. It had then six hundred 
men in fine condition. Before it reached Canada Montgom- 
ery had fallen, and Ai-nold, wounded, had retreated to Mon- 
treal, where it arrived early in Ma}^ There it suffered terri- 
bly with smallpox. June 8th there were but six men fit for 
duty, the rest being in the hosj)ital sick with inoculated small- 
pox. It fought the disastrous battle of the Cedars with the 
British and Indians, losing many men; sixty-seven were 
captured. In September Colonel Paterson was in command 
at Fort George and was recommended by General Gates for 
promotion. In November they joined Gates near Saratoga 
with three hundi'ed and thirty-one men and were ordered to 
rejoin Washington. His army was retreating through New 
Jersey ; they joined him December 8th, with only two hun- 
dred and twenty men. The term of enlistment of most of 
his army was about to expire, and they were in a desperate 
condition. It was the most gloomy period of the war. But 
how fortunate for Paterson and the Berkshire men that they 
came in time to have a share in that masterly crossing of the 
broad Delaware, filled with floating ice, to the brilliant \dc- 
tory at Trenton on that stormy Christmas Eve, and two days 
after in the brilliant flank movement and victory at Princeton. 
The country was again full of hope and coui'age. For his 
conduct he was promoted to be brigadier- general in Febru- 
ary, 1777, and was ordered to Ticonderoga. On its evacua- 



434 APPENDIX. 

tion he joined Gates, with a brigade of four Massachusetts 
regiments, near Saratoga. His brigade was in nearly all the 
engagements near Saratoga, and had heavy losses. General 
Paterson's horse was killed under him. After the surrender 
of Burgoyne the Brigade was at Valley Forge through the 
winter and until June, when a council of war was held to 
discuss the grave question of a general engagement. Gen- 
eral Paterson was an ardent advocate of it. The council 
resulted in the fiercely contested battle of Monmouth ; at its 
close the enemy retreated. On one of the bas-reliefs of the 
monument, erected in 1884 by New Jersey to commemorate 
this battle, is a group of the officers composing the council. 
In the group is John Paterson next to La Fayette. After 
the battle he was ordered to take command of the -fortress at 
West Point. His brigade left there just before Arnold's trea- 
son became known. He was a member of the court-martial 
which tried Major Andre, and was the youngest member ex- 
cept La Fayette. From this time most of the fighting was in 
the south. He was at West Point and its vicinity till the 
close of the war, and much of the time in command of that 
post. It was considered the military key of the northern de- 
partment, and while the bulk of the army was in the south it 
was important that this post should be intrusted to safe hands 
— and it was. Peace was proclaimed April 17, 1783 ; the 
army was disbanded, but General Paterson and his brigade 
were kept at West Point till December 8, 1783. On Septem- 
ber 30th he was promoted to be major-general. 

I am quite well aware that this is a very bald outline of a 
distinguished mihtary career. Shortly after his death his 
house and all his papers, letters, diaries, and private memo- 
randa were burned. If we only had the letter which I am 
sure he wrote to his wife on that Christmas after the splendid 
fight at Trenton, penned when he was yet throbbing with a 
soldiei"'s joy ! What a vision it would give us of the real 
man ! If we could quote passages from his diary A\Titten 
just after Monmouth or Saratoga, how near we could get to 
him and to those battles ! How easilv we could cover this 



APPENDIX. 435 

cold skeleton of official facts with a warm, living body full of 
human interest, appealing- irresistibly to our hearts rather 
than our judgments! He came home, after an absence of 
eight years with only one furlough. He had been a citizen 
here ten years, all of them almost wholly occupied in the pul> 
lie service. 

In 1786 he was again called on to assist in suppressing the 
very serious Shays Rebellion, and received the formal thanks 
of the government. He lived five years more in Lenox, serv- 
ing several times in town offices, showing always a strong in- 
terest in the town. His subscription for building the court- 
house was eighty pounds, the largest made, and enormous for 
those days. In 1791 he removed to Broome County, N. Y., 
and there at once became a public servant. He was four 
years a member of the legislature ; a delegate to the Consti- 
tutional Convention ; a member of Congress one term ; and 
presiding judge of the County Court from 1798 to his death. 
He died at Lisle, N. Y., in 1808, at the age of sixty-four years. 

Does not this life strongly appeal to us for recognition of 
its able, faithful service ? I can conceive how Dr. Egleston 
was at first content with a memorial tablet in yonder chm'ch ; 
but as his search unfolded this man's career, the man grew 
steadily greater, until not only a natural pride of ancestry but 
the pride of patriotism demanded that here in Lenox should 
stand forever the monument unveiled to-day. If he could 
speak to us, we should know his deep gratification that loving 
hands had brought him tenderly back again to the scene of 
his noble service, and laid him beside his kindred and among 
his comrades, and that Berkshire had come here to pay him 
the honors justly due him. As New Jersey grouped him, on 
her battle monument, with Washington and La Fayette, so it 
is time that the town he honored in civil and military service 
should with solemn ceremony receive Ms ashes, study his 
record, and dedicate this monument to his fame. I congratu- 
late my native to^vn that this tribute, to an honest, able, and 
useful public servant, is to stand forever right in its very 
heart. My own experience teaches me what an inspiration 



436 APPENDIX. 

and education it will be to this people. Daily I pass the noble 
statue of the standard-bearer in Pittsfield, the most artistic 
representation of an American volunteer I have ever seen ; 
together with its wonderful inscription, "For the living, a 
memory ; for the dead, a tril^ute ; foi* posterity, an emblem of 
loyalty to the flag of our country," it is a continual refresh- 
ment and joy. Many days you may pass by and not regard 
it, but some day, when your mind and heart are rightly tuned, 
this stone will strike a chord there which you will not willingly 
forget. Daniel "Webster at the dedication of the monument 
at Bunker Hill said: "We can win no laurels in a war for 
independence ; nor are there places for us among the fomid- 
ers of States — our fathers have filled them ; there remains to 
lis a great duty of defense and j)reservation." 

The country was in a sad condition at the close of the war. 
The pressure of a common danger had kept the colonies 
united; when that pressure ceased they began to quarrel. 
They had httle common interest, little intercoiu'se ; the dis- 
tances were immense, the roads dreadful ; a journey from 
Boston to New York by the fast stage hue consumed a week, 
and two coaches did all the business. The cm-rency was 
worthless ; every one was in debt ; no one would take the de- 
based paper. Congress, their only central government, had 
no power, and was without influence. For five years after 
the war their condition grew steadily worse. The historian 
John Fiske says that those five years were much more danger- 
ous than any period of the war ; that there was imminent 
danger of utter anarchy. Europe was certain that the result 
would be thirteen pitiful little States and ultimate union un- 
der a military chieftain. Some of our people hoped for this, 
as the best remedy for their distress. Many good men saw 
that union was necessary, but they had been educated to fear 
centrahzed government and to magnify their States; they 
hated the idea of a strong government. But their condition 
became so unbearable, their distress so great, that they finally 
appointed delegates to the immortal convention of 1787. 
Even then no one dared to say that its work was to create a 



APPENDIX. 437 

new form of goverument, such was the State jealousy and the 
fear of giving xxp any power. The people thought they would 
patch up the old confederacy. The convention sat fom* 
months in secret session in Independence Hall, and presented 
to their countrymen that wonderful Constitution which Mr. 
Gladstone pi'onounces the greatest work ever struck forth, in 
a given time, liy the brain of man. It was a creation, not a 
mere selection from the experience of others. Creation on a 
large scale always partakes, in some degree, of the supernatu- 
ral. There was no precedent. The problem was to construct 
a government whose form and practical working shoidd be 
permeated by the Declaration of eleven years before, that all 
men are free and equal before the law. There was no model ; 
the world had never seen one. There had been vague dreams 
of it, but they were regarded as baseless visions. That a con- 
tinent could safely trust the common people to govern them- 
selves was mere midsummer madness. The convention, espe- 
cially delegated, as I believe, by a divine Providence, had two 
problems to soh'e, liotli of which seemed too difficult for hu- 
man msdom. First, to devise an entirely new form of gov- 
ernment, which should easily and almost automatically put 
into practical action a new and untried theory ; which should 
unite a di\dded people, and by its immediate results recom- 
mend itself to a very practical and impatient people. But 
suppose all this to be accomphshed, how were the common 
people, poor, loaded with debt, oppressed with taxes, jealous of 
power, suspicious of all authority outside their own State — 
how were they to comprehend this profound and completely 
new charter ? How was it possible for them to suddenly grasp 
its wonderful beneficence "? How was it possible to persuade 
them to di-op their local jealousies and intrust their future 
welfare to it f The world did not then perceive it, but the fact 
that those people, conditioned as they were, should have been 
able to even dimly understand and accept their new govern- 
ment was a final demonstration of the capacity of the people 
to govern themselves. 

It is worth considerino; for a moment. You have been act- 



438 APPENDIX. 

ors in a national election. The struggle tmnied upon a single 
issue, perhaps the tariif or the cm-rency. You know something 
of the perfection of the organization of parties ; of its enor- 
mous cost ; of the gi'eat ability of its orators and of the press ; 
of the industry of the pohticians for months and years — all 
this to instruct and persuade the people upon a single issue. 
Suppose the issue to be the whole form and theory of a gov- 
ernment, with yourselves and your leaders ignorant of its prac- 
tical working, and that you were living under like conditions ; 
can you conceive of yourselves, confronted with such a prob- 
lem under such circumstances, being able to triumphantly 
solve it ? If so, you can fully measure them, not otherwise. 
The new government was inaugurated ; you all know its his- 
tory. This commonwealth is a fair illustration of its bene- 
ficent results. It greatly blessed the country. But there was 
a serpent in this Eden. The new charter presented a strange 
anomaly. Formed for freemen, saturated with the ideas of 
the Declaration, it contained a recognition of human slavery. 
The convention was almost unanimously opposed to this, but 
thought it absolutely essential that all the States should ac- 
cept its work. To obtain unanimity they were obliged to in- 
sert a recognition of slavery ; all then supposed it to be a 
temporary e\il. The cotton crop and the cotton-gin made it 
a gigantic power. Its absolute necessities compelled it to seek 
controlling power in politics. It controlled them for fifty 
years. Its presence in our organic law was a fatal eiTor. Long 
before the war Abraham Lincoln said, " I believe this govern- 
ment cannot permanently endure half slave and half free." 
"When he was elected slavery thought its existence requu*ed 
rebellion. The error of the fathers had matured its fruit. The 
war brought freedom to the slave and nearly equal benefit to 
all laborers. How could labor rise to its complete dignity and 
honor while laborers were bought and sold like cattle in the 
market ? So long as slavery existed labor was degraded. It is 
true that since the war labor has lifted up its head with new 
power and self-respect. The results of the war made this land 
the earthly paradise of the workingmen. The young man com- 



APPENDIX. 439 

iug- here from the lowest wretchedness of Europe has uo limits 
to his possible achievements, except his capacity and strength ; 
all honors, wealth, comfort, happiness, are possible according 
to his gifts. If he stays in Germany he must bmy five of his 
best years in the army, and be liable to further service. If he 
remains in England only a miracle wUl lift him out of the life 
he was born into. His life in Russia is a dead level of utter 
hopelessness. Nowhere does the sun of hope shine in and 
cause him to grow to the full statui-e of manhood, except- in 
this dear land, which we have at last made free. Here, unless 
sickness, bad habits, or laziness prevent, every man can at 
least provide for a comfortable, happy old age. Work is most 
honorable. That to such a country, rich with blessings earned 
by the blood of two wars, men should come from the slums of 
the Old "World and preach the accursed doctrines of anarchy, 
should be allowed to advocate the abolition by force of prop- 
erty, law, government, sui-passes belief. It is liberty run mad. 
The work of the fathers had but one radical fault; that 
defect was well known to them, but they felt compelled to 
allow it to remain, hoping it would soon be removed. It be- 
came a menace to om* peace. It was om- privilege and duty 
to complete their work, and so the War of the Rebellion be- 
came the logical successor of the War of the Revolution. At 
last their fondest hope is realized, their work is complete, as 
they designed it ; and thus (and this is the central thought I 
would express to-day) we are nearer to the fathers than aU 
the generations that have preceded us. Other generations 
have used the liberty they inherited ; we have made then- de- 
sign a reality. We are firmly settled upon the bed-rock prin- 
ciple which their wonderful sagacity first announced to the 
world, that all men are free and equal before the law ; fii-st 
organized into government by the fathers, but never an accom- 
plished fact till emancipation was proclaimed by Abraham 
Lincoln. As the blood flowing from the heart to the extremi- 
ties continually repairs the constantly wasting tissues, keeps 
the eyes bright, the senses alert, the brain clear, the whole 
body fit for service, so this great principle, permeating the 



440 APPENDIX. 

body politic, tests every statute, every executive act, every 
decree of the com-ts, acts upon our social intercoiu'se, our busi- 
ness, our recreations. We do not perceive it any more than 
the air, but we rely ujjon it unconsciously as we do upon natu- 
ral laws. It is part of our contracts, our ambitions, our hopes ; 
it enlarges our self-respect. It is the ozone of our political 
atmosphere ; our political health depends upon it. We do not 
fuUy appreciate it, yet no blessing like unto it has ever envel- 
oped the hearts and homes of any people. Those who have it 
not yearn after it, as the hart panteth for the water brooks ; 
it seems to them like a cool spring- in a thirsty desert. Out 
of the depths of their poverty and misery they strain every 
nerve to enter into this happy land ; to them the idea of equal 
rights freely bestowed seems more precious than the Moham- 
medan paradise to the devout Moslem. They are right ; of 
aU things in this world Avorth fighting for, dying for, this is 
supreme ; for this the fathers and their worthy heii's fought ; 
for this John Paterson of Lenox fought and William D wight 
Sedgwick of Lenox died. Until those discovered it and these 
completed it, the world liever saw a pure liberty freely be- 
stowed upon a great nation. The world sees it now and ap- 
preciates it. We wonder to see the multitude pouring into 
our gates ; the secret lies in the liljerty which is here a living 
reality. The prohfic mother of many blessings, it makes free 
pulilic education necessary. When a man feels he is really 
free he begins to think knowledge is necessary to the dignity 
of his position; the more knowledge he gets the more he 
prizes liberty. Before he was President, Lincoln said of the 
Declaration of the fathers: "This was theu- majestic inter- 
pretation of the economy of the universe ; this then- ynse and 
noble understanding of the justice of the Creator to His 
creatures." On his memorable journey to Washington in 
1861 he said in Independence HaU: "I have never had a 
feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments 
of the Declaration of Independence." We have no time for 
the full argument ; it seems clear to me that the estabhsh- 
ment of this doctrine as a vital truth in the hearts of this 



APPENDIX. 441 

people is ample compensation for the dreadful cost of both 
wars. Let us try to get a just estimate of this rich and costly 
blessing. The fathers gave it to the world; my comrades 
cut out the cancer of slavery and gave free course to the life- 
blood of freedom through all the veins and arteries of the 
body politic, untainted and pure ; building up the M^aste 
places; bringing hope and sweet content to the hopeless; 
compacting a divided j)eople into a proud, happy nation, 
which can now with perfect ti-uth and honest pride look up 
to the stars and stripes, and say, " There floats the beautiful 
symbol of a true, pure liberty." 

Will all this continue? It certainly will until God pro- 
vides a safer foundation for a State. In every earnest con- 
flict between good and evil the good will surely triumph in 
the end. Even in this crime-laden, wicked age many more 
good deeds are dally done than liad ones. Every petty 
larceny is published, but a hundred httle gifts are made 
daily in the same community, a hundi-ed hands are clasped 
in silent sympathy, a hundred helpful words are spoken, which 
are never chronicled. In every political issue which is also a 
moral issue the right has always triumphed where there is 
free debate. Witness the slavery issue, the fight with Tweed 
in New York. We have had an object-lesson this winter 
which seems to me conclusive. I refer to the lottery contest 
in Louisiana. Just after the Civil War a party of New York 
gamblers got a charter in that State giving them a monopoly 
of the lottery business for twenty-five years; in 1879 they 
got their charter into the State constitution ; it expii-es Janu- 
ary 1, 1895. Of course it now desu*es a new charter, and 
this winter proceeded to force its way through the legislature. 
It needed just twenty-four votes in the Senate — it got just 
twenty-fom-, no more, no less ; it needed just sixty-six votes 
in the House — it got just sixty-sis votes, no more, no less. 
The governor vetoed the resolve. It needed just three judges 
of the Supreme Court to deny his right to veto — it got just 
three judges. The question then went to the people. It 
needed just tlm-ty-nine members of a committee on creden- 



442 APPENDIX. 

tials to control a convention — it got jnst thirty-nine, no more, 
or less. Its money power is enormous ; the market value of 
its stock exceeds the entire banking capital of the State. Its 
stock pays dividends of from seventy to one hnndi-ed and 
sixty per cent., and part of it is held by leaders in both 
parties. It offered a bribe of $1,250,000 a year for twenty- 
five years to this poor State. It controlled every daily paper 
in New Orleans, and could paralyze any bank or business 
house that opposed it. More than half of the voters of the 
State are ignorant negroes. No one had any special personal 
interest to oppose it. It required sublime moral and physical 
courage to oppose it. It was a much more dangerous foe 
than the Italian Mafia. The odds in its favor seemed a thou- 
sand to one ; those who entered this fight must be actuated 
by a high, pure, moral purpose, an unselfish patriotism. The 
men came forward — they always do when a forlorn hope is 
called for. They established a new daily paper, which was 
conducted with great power. They began to hold small 
meetings. Soon the tide began to rise. After a while aU the 
white clergy, and then a majority of the black clergy, joined 
them ; then the women en masse took up this cause. They 
had very little money, and called upon patriots of the North 
for help, and got it, and deserved it, for nine tenths of the 
revenues of the corporation (over $20,000,000 each year) came 
from the North. Of this, then- New England agency sent 
more than any other. And they got sympathy from aU 
Christian denominations ; they got a manly Christian protest 
from Cardinal Gil)bons, the head of the Roman Church in 
this country, which was a deadly blow to tlie lottery. They 
had to overcome political prejudice and divide both of the 
parties ; they had to erase the color line and overcome the 
intensely bitter race feeling, more bitter than in any other 
State. Can you conceive of a moral battle under more ad- 
verse circumstances f And yet they had a complete victory. 
Warm praise and admiration are especially due to General 
George D. Johnston, Governor Nichols, and the editor of the 
New Delta — I can't recall his name. Here was a clear moral 



APPENDIX, 443 

issue, discussed on the stump before a comparatively ignorant 
people, resulting in a triumph for the right against an im- 
mense money power, very ably led, controlling the machinery 
of both parties, all the daily press, and most of the business 
influence. To me it has been a very impressive and reassur- 
ing contest. It could have only taken place where was real 
freedom. 

I believe this will continue, because in a peculiar sense it 
is a providential country. When the colonists had decided 
that they must fight, their supreme need was a man so supe- 
rior to other men that an almost insanely jealous people should 
never question his wisdom or his motives. If they had 
searched the earth they could have found no man who could 
fill the place of George Washington. Yet he had been quietly 
growing up here, abnost unknown beyond his State. Then 
a veritable creation of a completely new form of governmeut 
which had but one serious error, known, but supposed to be 
short lived, but which soon menaced and finally resolved to 
destroy the whole. Then rebelHon, civil war. Again the 
supreme need was a man like unto the other, but adapted to 
his age. The man was ready ; he came right out of the heart 
of the common people — an American of the purest type; 
none other would answer. Of all the grea.t men who were 
prominent dming the war, some were abler in one direction, 
some in other directions, but no one combined all the neces- 
sary qualities but Abraham Lincoln. He alone was utterly 
unselfish ; he gave himself to his country whoU}' ; he brooded 
over her as a mother broods over her babes. A thoughtful 
reading of his life will disclose a gradual leading up, from 
boyhood to that fatal night in the Washington theater, by a 
power higher than man. Most of us had the idea, at first, 
of saving, the Union and slavery with it ; but such was the 
ebb and flow of victory and defeat for many weary months, 
the progress of events was so overruled that at last the people 
were brought to know that slavery must die. T\^iat would 
our \dctory have been worth if slavery had survived? It 
would not have been worth one tenth of the blood that was 



444 APPENDIX. 

shed. Memorial Day would have little inspiration. The 
chief distinction of tliis generation, viz.. the completion of 
the work of the fathers, would have passed on to some future 
generation. 

Imperial America, "enthroned between her subject seas," 
midway between mysterious, mystical Asia and conservative 
Europe, containing everything necessary for countless mill- 
ions, was silently waiting for the fixed time when her fallow 
soil should receive the seed of liberty. It has taken one hun- 
dred years to fully perfect its fruit ; the people who have fed 
upon it will never consent to hve without it. We do well 
to honor one who helped to plant it. In doing this we also 
honor those who helped to perfect it. And here it seems not 
unfitting this occasion to suggest to Lenox people my hope 
that in the near future they will place on the brow of yonder 
hill a statue of Major William Dwight Sedgwick. He was 
born and reared here ; it was his home till manhood ; when 
the war began he left Missouri and came to Lenox, because 
he said he wished to fight among Massachusetts men. He 
was a very able and enthusiastic soldier ; was promoted from 
the line of the famous 2d Massachusetts to the staff of noble 
John SedgAvick, commander of the famous 6th Corps ; he fell 
at Antietam in Sej^tember, 1862. He was a great, stalwart, 
noble man, a loyal lover of Lenox. I di'ove him to Pitts- 
field on his way to his regiment ; the next time I saw him 
was in his coffin, in his mother's house yonder. We came 
from a Pittsfield camp, and bore him to Stockbridge for 
burial on a lovely autumn afternoon. As we parted from 
him at the grave the sun was just sinking behind the west- 
ern hills, the full harvest moon rising in the east — beautiful 
symbol of a glorious death, strong assurance of a glorious 
resurrection. The two memorials • would complete your 
goodly record. They would tell the story I have tried to tell 
more powerfully than any tongue or pen, and repeat it to 
your lioys and gu-ls for many generations. 

History makes comrades aU who fought for liberty. As a 
comrade of the Grand Army I am here to pay honor to a 




r 




THE PATERSON-EGLESTON MONUMENT, LENOX, MASS. 



APPENDIX. 445 

comrade. As a Companion of the Military Order of the 
Loyal Legion, a lineal descendant of the order of the Cincin- 
nati founded by Washington and his officers, I come here 
to do honor to an original member of that order. As a na- 
tive of Lenox I feel it to be a rare privilege to take any part 
in dedicating this fine memorial of one of the most distin- 
guished in her long roll of able, eminent citizens. 

" Be proud I for she is saved, and all have helped to save her— 
She that lifts up the manhood of the poor, 
She of the open soul and open door, 
With room about her hearth for all mankind. 
The fire is dreadful in her eyes, no more— 
From her bold front the helm she doth unbind, 
Sends all her handmaid armies back to spin, 
And bids her navies hold their thunders in; 
No challenge sends she to the elder world 
That looked askance and hated ; a light scorn 
Plays o'er her mouth, as round her mighty knees 
She calls her children back, and waits the morn 
Of nobler day, enthroned between her subject seas." 

After the address the " Regulars " gave an exhibition drill, and were 
followed by the Pittsfield cadets, who showed great skill and discipline 
and called out great applause by their very rapid and well-executed ma- 
neuvers. The Lee cadets gave a drill in the evening. They made a fine 
showing and elicited a great deal of api^lause. 

In the evening Colonel Auchmuty gave a dinner at the Curtis Hotel to 
the U. S. Regulars, Company M. of Adams, the F. M. T. A. cadets, and 
the guests of the occasion. After-dinner speeches were made by E. S. 
Barrett of Concord, Captain Wetherell, U. S. N., Joseph Ward Lewis of 
the Journal of Pittsfield, Selectman McDonald of Lenox, Captain Mar- 
shall, and Mr. Fitzgerald of the Pittsfield cadets. Late in the evening 
the company dispersed. 

The monument is shown in the engraving opposite to this page. 
The foundation is laid in cement, and is 8 feet deep and 11 feet 
square. This base is protected on the corners by four stones cut out 
so as to surround the angles at the corners, 6 inches on each side. 
The bottom base is 9 feet square and 14 inches in height, and weighs 
16,500 pounds. The second base is 6 feet 8 inches square and 1 foot high, 
and weighs 7700 pounds. The third base is 4 feet 8^ inches square and 
is 15 inches high, and weighs 4500 pounds. The die is 3 feet 9 inches 
square at the base and 3 feet 7 inches square at the top and 4 feet 2 
inches high, and weighs 9800 pounds. The cap is 4 feet 8 inches square, 
14 inches high, and weighs 4100 pounds. The shaft is 3 feet square at 
the base, 1 foot 10 inches square at the top, and is 21 feet 9 inches high, 



44:6 APPENDIX. 

and weighs 9500 pounds. The total height of the monument is 30 feet 6 
inches, and the total weight is 52,100 pounds. The monument is in pol- 
ished granite from Quincy, Mass. It is placed so that the name of Pater- 
son faces north. The shaft is oi'namented on the north and south sides 
with the flag of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, crossed with the United 
States flag, the stars and alternate stripes of which are in polished gran- 
ite. The die is ornamented on the noi'th side with the name of Paterson, 
with two flint-lock muskets and two cannon swabs crossed behind it, with 
a pile of ten cannon-balls and two stars, the insignia of his rank as Major- 
General. On the upper base are two swords crossed, and on the lower 
one are the words, "Erected in 1892 by Thomas Egleston." The inscrip- 
tion which is given below is on the east side. 

IN MEMORY OF 

MAJOR GENERAL JOHN PATERSON, 

Son of COLONEL JOHN PATERSON. 
Born 1744, Died 1808. 

And ELIZABETH LEE His Wife. 
Born 1749, Died 1841. 

He was born in New Britain, Conn. Graduated at Yale College in 1763. 

He entered the law in his native town. He was married June 2nd 1766. 

In 1774 he moved to Lenox and was chosen a member of the Berkshire 

Convention July 1774. Represented this town in the General Court, which 

became the first Provincial Congress in 1774, and also in the second 

Provincial Congress in 177.5. Was made Colonel of a regiment he raised 

in 1775 and was one of the first in the field with it after the battle of 

Lexington and defended Boston from an attack in the rear during the 

battle. "Was complimented by Washington in general orders, Nov. 10, 1775. 

In April 1776 was ordered to Staten Island and from there to Canada. 

Was in the battle of the Cedars. Crossed the Delaware with Washington 

Dec. 2.5, 1776, and was in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Was made 

Brigadier General Feb. 21, 1777. Assisted in the capture of Burgoyne 

October 1777 and was in the battle and council of Monmouth in 1778. 

In 1780 he commanded West Point and was on the trial of Major Andre. 

He was in most of the decisive battles of the Revolution and served 

during the whole war. He was one of the founders of the society of the 

Cincinnati in May 1783 and on September 30, 1783, he was made Major 

General. After the war he returned to Lenox and was a most public 

spirited citizen. In 1786 he commanded the Massachusetts troops in 

putting down Shays' rebellion. In 1790 he moved to Lisle, New York, 

where he died. He was four years a member of the N. Y. General Assembly. 

In 1801 was a member of the committee to revise the constitution of 

New York State. Was appointed Chief Justice of Broome Co., N.Y. 

He served in the U.S. Congress in 1803 to 1805. He died July 9, 1808, in 

the full vigor of manhood, in the pursuit of duty, in the service of the country 

he had so ably defended. He was a soldier, a patriot and a statesman. 

His remains lie in the churchyard. In gratitude for his public services 

and in recognition of his private virtues this monument is erected. 



APPENDIX. 447 

On the south side is the same ornamentation for the shaft, with the 
name "Egleston," and with the same ornamentation on the die, except 
the stars ; and on the west side is the inscription which is given below, 
relating to the Revolutionary services of Azariah Egleston, who was Gen- 
eral Paterson's sou-iu-law, and, like him, served during the whole of the 
Revolutionary War. 

IN MEMORY OF 

MAJOR AZARIAH EGLESTON. 

Born 1757, Died 1822. 

AxD HAXXAH PATERSON His Wife. 
BoRX 1759, Died 1803. 

On April 22, 177.5, in anticipation of the breaking out of the Revolution, 

he enlisted as a private in the regiment of Col. John Paterson and was 

active in inducing others to enlist. He marched with the regiment immediately 

after the battle of Lexington and went \^'ith it to Canada, when he enlisted 

for the whole war. He was in the battle of the Cedars. Crossed the 

Delaware with Washington Dec. 25, 1770, and was in the battles of 

Princeton and Trenton. In 1777 he served against Burgoyne and was in 

both the battles of Bemis Heights, and was at Saratoga when Burgoyne 

surrendered. He was promoted to the rank of Ensign May 18, 1776, by 

John Hancock. He was with Washington at Valley Forge, where he was 

promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. In 1778 he was in the battle of 

Monmouth and the siege of Newport. On March 7, 1779, was promoted to 

the rank of Major and served on the staff of Gen. Ashley and Gen. Paterson. 

He was at the evacuation of New York Dec. 1783. In 1784 he returned to 

Lenox. In 1786 he served in Shays' rebellion. He was Deputy Quartermaster 

General under Gen. Paterson in 1787 and afterwards under Gen. Ashley. He 

was a friend of ^Vashington, Kosciosko and Lafayette and was one of the 

founders of the Society of the Cincinnati. After the war he made Lenox a 

prominent centre of education. He was as public spirited after the war as he 

had been patriotic during it and was noted for his hospitality. His house 

was the headquarters for army ofRcers and men of literature and learning. 

He was always identified with every movement for the good of the town or the 

state. In 1787 he was appointed Justice of the Peace and resigned in 1808. 

In 17St6, 1797, 1798 and 1799 he was chosen Representative in Boston. In 

1807, 1808 and 1809 lie was elected State Senator. In 1808 he was appointed 

Associate Justice of the Court of Sessions. Duty, whether to the country 

on the field of battle, to the State in the legislature, to the town in public 

ser\-ices or the family in his home, was never forgotten. His life was full of 

patriotic actions for the country and generous deeds to his neighbors. 

His remains lie in the churchyard. In memory of his public services 

and his private virtues this monument is erected. 

The monument stands directly in view of the town hall which General 
Paterson was so active in building, and opposite to the house in which 
he lived, on the line of the roads which Major Egleston laid out. It forms 



448 APPENDIX. 

a very beautiful and graceful object at the head of Court-house Hill, and 
serves to keep alive the Revolutionary memories in which Lenox took so 
prominent a part. The Egleston house at this date is the only Revolu- 
tionary memento that is left in the town. 

At the annual town meeting held in Lenox on April 3, 1893, the fol- 
lowing resolution was proposed : 

"Voted to accept the monument to General John Paterson erected in 
this town by Mr. Egleston, and to tender a vote of thanks to Mr. Egleston 
for the same. 



" [A true copy.] 



"I. J. Newton, Town Clerk." 



LIST OF BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS FROM WHICH INFOR- 
MATION HAS BEEN OBTAINED. 

In Albany : 
The Records of the State of New York. 

In Xew York City: 

Orderly-book of the Northern Army at Ticonderoga. 

Tm'nbull's History of Cuba. 

Hayard's Cuba with Pen and Pencil. 

Justamonde's History of the Indies. 

Parker's Historj' of Londonderry, N. H. 

Riddel's Memorials of the Revolution. 

Barber's Historical Collections of Connecticut. 

History of Ancient Windsor. 

Hayen's History of Billerica. 

Temple's History of Northfield. 

Barber's History of Connecticut. 

Bugbee's Memorials of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. 

Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America. 

Hamilton's History of the American Republic. 

Gordon's History of the Revolution. 

Saffield's Records of the Revolutionary War. 

Dawson's Battles of the United States by Sea and Land. 

Carrington's Battles of the American Revolution. 

Surgeon James Thatcher's Journal. 



APPENDIX. 449 

Force's American Archives. 

Munsell's Historical Series. 

New England Historical and Genealogical Register. 

Harper's Cyclopaxlia of United States History. 

Drake's Dictionary of American Biography. 

Jom-nals of Congress. 

Werner's Civil List of Constitntional History of New York. 

Boynton's History of West Point Military Academy. 

Ruttenber's Defenses of tlie Hudson. 

Manusei'ipt Map of the Camp, 1782-83. 

Sparks' Life of Washington. 

Sparks' Writings of Washington. 

Whiting's Revolutionary Orders of General Washington (compiled from 
the Manuscripts of Lieutenant Whiting). 

Gardner's Dictionary of Officers of the American Army. 

Hamersley's Official Register of Army and Navy Officers of the United 
States. 

Hamersley's Army Register of the LTnited States, 1779 to 1879. 

Lieutenant Fogg's Orderly-book in General Poor's Regiment. 

Washington's Letters. 

Kapp's Life of Baron Steuben. 

General Heath's Memoirs (by himself). 

Sargent's Life of Major Andre. 

Drake's Burgoyne's Invasion. 

Stone's Campaigns of Lieutenant-General John Birrgoyne. 

Barber's Historical Collections of Massachusetts. 

Minot's Select Tracts of Insurrections in Massachusetts. 

Journals of the Provincial Congresses of Massachusetts in 1774-75. 

Journal of Committee of Safety of Provincial Congress. 

Johnston's Connecticut in the Revolution. 

Johnston's Yale in the Revolution. 

Bugbee's History of the Cincinnati. 

Schuyler's Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati. 

Camp's History of New Britain. 

History of Berkshire Co., Mass. 

Address on the Life of John Paterson, by W. H. Lee. 

History of Hartford Co. (2 vols. 4to). 

Fisk's History of the American Revolution (2 vols.). 

Minot's History of the Insurrections in Massachusetts. 

Barry's History of Massachusetts. 

The French War and the Revolution. Sloane. 

Three Episodes in Massachusetts History. Adams. 

Storer's Records of Freemasonry. 

Wilkinson's Annals of Binghampton, New York. 



450 APPENDIX. 



In Boston : 

Frothingham's Seige of Boston. 

Eecords of Provincial Congresses. 

Massachusetts Court Records. 

Historical Manuscripts in State House, Boston. 

Massachusetts Manuscript Archives in the Btate House. 

General Wilkinson's Memoirs. 

Drake's Massachusetts Cincinnati. 

In Ca))ihrid(je : 
Miscellaneous Manuscripts in the Harvard College Library. 

1)1 Hartford: 

Connecticut Colonial Records. \ 

The Connecticut War Archives, 

Hartford Probate Records. 

Wethersfield Town Records. 

Wethersfield Church Records. 

Newington Records. 

Camps' History of New Britain. 

In Worcester : 
Worcester Magazine. 

Massachusetts Spy (Antiquarian Society, Worcester). 
Garrison's Orders (Antiquarian Society, Worcester). 
General Schuyler's Orderly-book. 
Captain Cushing's Orderly-book. 
Washington's Diary. 

More than 2.50 volumes were consulted, but these are the only ones in 
which anything was found. Most of the information had been copied 
from one to the other. 



THE PATERSON GENEALOGY. 

The Paterson family, as has been mentioned, is of Scotch descent. 
There are at the present time, accortling to Burke's Peerage, seven fam- 
ilies in Scotland whose armorial bearings show that they are related to 
one another. Five of those families spell the name with one t, one spells 
it with either one or two, while only one spells it with two. There is no 



APPENDIX, 451 

record that any ancestor or member of General Paterson's family ever 
spelled the name with more than one t. It is so spelled by his grand- 
father, father, and himself. In the records of the county of Hartford, 
Conn., and in some of the printed documents and notices, the name is 
sometimes spelled with two Vs; but it must be remembered that these 
cannot be taken as authority. They are the spelling of clerks who were 
sometimes so careless that the name is spelled both ways in the same 
document.* In former centuries but little attention was paid to the 
spelling of names, it being considered as of very little importance. In- 
stances have been known where from sheer carelessness the names of 
families have become so altered in the spelling as to have become in less 
than three centuries scarcely recognizable. This carelessness in spelling 
has made the searches in documents very difficult, and in one or two in- 
stances a search lasting many months, carried on in the libraries of three 
different cities, has finally proven that the person referred to in the docu- 
ment was not General John Paterson, but a member of an entirely different 
family. Several times persons wishing to aid me have sent me references 
to a British officer of the same name. There was a British Colonel Pat- 
erson serving in and about New York and Boston while John Paterson 
was a colonel, and this same officer was made a general, and served in 
and about New York while General John Paterson was on duty in the 
Highlands. But these are only a few of the difficulties that have arisen. 
Frequently the wrong spelling of the name has made it so difficult to dis- 
tinguish the person that without strong corroborative evidence the in- 
cident would have had to be thrown out. Once a fact that had been ac- 
cepted and published as true had to be discarded, as the official records 
showed that General Paterson at the time was in a different State. 

General Paterson's descendants are now scattered all over this coun- 
try. It has not been easy to find the addresses of all of them, but in 
order to get the requisite information persons living from Vermont to the 
southern part of California have been corresponded with. Nothing like 
a complete record has ever before been made. A manuscript containing 
an imperfect record was prepared by the late Dr. Charles Seymour; 
after his death it passed into the hands of the late Dr. William Patterson, 
and is now in the possession of the Connecticut Historical Society of 
Hartford, Conn. ; but it is very incomplete, and lacks entirely the record 
of two or three of General Paterson's children. This record is more com- 
plete than any that has been made up to this time. That it is not en- 
tirely complete is owing to the impossibility of getting the information, 

* In July, 1892, I had occasion to show on pages 8 and 9 of volume xxiii. 
of the Record of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, in 
an article on Major Azariah Egleston, that the name "Bagot" was spelled 
nineteen different ways, and sometimes three ways in the same document. 



452 APPENDIX. 

althougli more than two years have been spent in collecting it. In com- 
piling this genealogical tree two conflicting dates have frequently been sent 
to me, in which case the date given by the greatest number of persons, 
or that which seems to have the best authority, has been accepted. Some 
of the descendants have been at great pains to fui-nish the records of their 
branches. I am especially indebted to Mrs. E. Bates, of Parma Center, 
N. Y. ; Mrs. Harriet Shelton, of Topeka, Kan. ; Mrs. F. Bemis, of Daven- 
port, la. ; Mrs. F. G. Dean, of Newark Valley, N. Y. ; Mr. H. "Wistar Rugg, 
of Olean, N. Y. ; Dr. M. L. Baxter, of Derby Line, Vt. ; Mrs. F. V. Wood- 
bmy, of Passadena, Cal. ; and Miss M. P. Kilborn, of Spencerport, N. Y. 

K 

THE RESOLUTIONS ON COINAGE OF JULY 6, 1785. 

Wednesday, July 6, 1785. 

Congress took into consideration the report of a grand committee, 
consisting of Mr. Howell, Mr. Foster, Mr. King, Mr. Cook, Mr. Smith, 
Mr. Beatty, Mr. Gardner, Mr. Vining, Mr. Hindman, Mr. Monroe, Mr. 
Williamson, Mr. Pinckney and Mr. Houston, on the subject of a money 
unit ; 

And on the question, that the money unit of the United States of 
America be one dollar, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Howell, 
every member answering aye, it was 

Resolved, That the money unit of the United States of America be 
one dollar. 

Resolved, That the smallest coin be of copper, of which 200 shall 
pass for one dollar. 

Resolved, That the several pieces shall increase in a decimal ratio. 

THE RESOLUTIONS ON COINAGE OF AUGUST 8, 1786. 

Tuesday, August 8, 1786. 
On a report of the Board of Treasury. 

Resolved, That the Standard of the United States of America for 
gold and silver shall be eleven parts fine and one part alloy. 

That the money unit of the United States, being by the resolve of 
Congress of the 6th of July, 1785, a dollar, shall contain of fine 
silver 375 64/100 grains. 

That the money of account, to correspond with the division of coins 
agreeably to the above resolve, proceed in a decimal ratio agreeably 
to the forms and manner following, viz : 

Mills : the lowest money of accompt, of which one thousand shall 
be equal to the federal dollar, or money unit 0.001 



APPENDIX. 453 

Cents : the highest copper piece, of which one hundred shall be 

equal to the dollar 0.010 

Dimes : the lowest silver coin, ten of which shall be equal to the 

dollar 0.100 

Dollars : the highest silver coin 1 . 000 

That betwixt the dollar and the lowest copper coin, as fixed by the 
resolve of Congress of the 6th of July, 1785, there shall be three silver 
coins and one copper coin. That the silver coins shall be as follows : 
One coin, containing 187 82/100 grains of fine silver, to be called 

half a dollar. 
One coin, containing 75 128/1000 grains of fine silver, to be called 

a double dime. 
And one coin containing 37 560/1000 grains of fine silver, to be 
called a dime. 
That the two copper coins shall be as follows : 

One equal to the 100th part of the federal dollar, to be called a 

cent. 
One equal to the 200th part of the federal dollar, to be called a 
half cent. 
That two pounds and a quarter avoirdupois weight of copper 

shall constitute 100 cents. 
That there shall be two gold coins : One containing 246 268/1000 
grains of fine gold, equal to ten dollars, and to be stamped 
with the impression of the American eagle, and to be called 
an eagle. 
One containing 123 134/1000 grains of fine gold, equal to 5 dollars 
to be stamped in like manner, and to be called an half eagle. 
That the mint price of a pound ti'oy weight of uncoined silver. 11 
parts fine and one part alloy, shall be 9 dollars, 9 dimesand 
2 cents.* 
That the Mint price of a pound troy weight of uncoined gold", 11 
parts fine and one part alloy, shall be 209 dollars, 7 dimes, and 7 cents* 
Ordered that the Board of Treasury report a draft of an ordinance 
for the establishment of a mint. 

* This is a manifest error. The mint price of silver in dollars of 
521.73 grains, provided for in the tliird report of the Board of 
Treasury, was $9.92, and these figures have crept into tlie resolution, 
as they did also into one portion of the first report of the Board. 



454 APPENDIX. 



CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GENERAL PUTNAM AND GEN- 
ERAL WASHINGTON ON THE SUBJECT OF THE OHIO 
LANDS. ALSO LETTER OF GENERAL WASHINGTON TO 
PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 

" New Windsor, 16th June, 1783. 

" Sir : — As it is very uncertain how long it may be before the hon- 
orable Congress may take the petition of the officers of the army for 
lands between the Ohio River and Lake Erie into consideration, or be 
in a situation to decide thereon, the going to Philadelphia to negotiate 
the business with any of its members, or committee to wliom the peti- 
tion may be referred, is a measure none of the petitioners will think of 
undertaking. The part which I have taken in promoting the petition 
is well known, and therefore needs no apology, when I inform you 
that the signers expect that I will pursue measures to have it laid be- 
fore Congress. Under these circumstances, I beg leave to put the 
petition into your Excellency's hands, and ask, with the greatest as- 
surance, your patronage of it. That Congress may not be wholly 
unacquainted with the motives of the petitioners, I beg your indul- 
gence while I make a few observations on the policy and propriety of 
granting the prayer of it, and making such arrangements of garrisons 
in the western quarter as shall give effectual protection to the settlers 
and encourage emigration to the new government, which, if they 
meet your approbation, and the favor be not too great, I must request 
your Excellency will give them your support, and cause them to be 
forwarded with the petition to the President of Congress, in order that 
when the petition is taken up. Congress, or their committee, may be 
informed on what principles the petition is grounded. I am, sir, 
among those who consider the cession of so great a tract of territory 
to the United States in the western world as a very happy circum- 
stance and of great consequence to the American Empire. Nor have 
I the least doubt but Congress will pay an early attention to securing 
the allegiance of the natives, as well as provide for the defense of that 
country, in case of a war with Great Britain or Spain. 

" One great means of securing the allegiance of the natives, I take 
to be, the furnishing them such necessaries as they shall stand in need 
of, and in exchange receiving their furs and skins. They are becoming 
so accustomed to the use of firearms, that I doubt if they could gain a 
subsistence without them ; at least they will be very sorry to be re- 
duced to the disagreeable necessity of using the bow and arrow as the 
only means for killing their game : and so habituated are thej^ to the 
woolen blanket, etc. , that an absolute necessity alone will prevent their 
making use of them. This consideration alone is, I think, sufficient to 



APPENDIX. 455 

prove the necessity of establishing such factories as may furnish an 
ample supply to these wretched creatures : for unless they are fur- 
nished by the subjects of the United States, they will undoubtedly 
seek elsewhere, and like all other people form their attachment where 
they have their commerce, and then in case of a war, will always be 
certain to aid our enemies. 

" Therefore, if there were no advantages in view but that of attach- 
ing them to our interest, I think good policy will dictate the measure 
of carrying on a commerce with these people ; but when we add to 
this the consideration of the profit arising from the Indian trade in 
general, there can not, I presume, be a doubt that it is the interest of 
the United States to make as early provision for the encouragement 
and protection of it as possible. For these and many other obvious 
reasons, Congress will, no doubt, find it necessary to establish garri- 
sons at Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, MichiUmackinac, Illinois, and many 
other places in the western world. 

' ' The Illinois and all the posts that shall be established on the 
Mississippi may undoubtedly be furnished by way of the Ohio with 
provisions at all times, and with goods whenever a war sliall interrupt 
the trade with New Orleans. But in case of a war with Great Britain, 
unless a communication is open between the River Ohio and Lake 
Erie, Niagara, Detroit, and all posts seated on the great Lakes will 
inevitably be lost without such communication, for a naval superiority 
on Lake Ontario, or the seizing of Niagara, will subject the whole 
country bordering on the lakes to the will of the enemy. Such a mis- 
fortune will put it out of the power of the United States to furnish the 
natives, and necessity will again oblige them to take an active part 
against us. 

"Where and how this communication is to be opened shall next 
be considered. If Captain Hutchins and a number of other map 
makers are not out in their calculations, provisions may be sent from 
the settlements on the south side of the Ohio by the Muskingum or 
Scioto to Detroit, or even to Niagara at a less expense than from Al- 
bany by the Mohawk, to those places. To secure such communication 
(by the Scioto, all circumstances considered, will be the best), let a 
chain of posts be established. These forts should be built on the bank 
of the river, if the ground will admit, and about twenty miles distant 
from each other, and on this plan the Scioto communication will re- 
quire ten or eleven stockaded forts, flanked by block-houses, and one 
company of men will be a sufficient garrison for each, except the one 
at the portage, which will require more attention in the construction 
and a larger number of men to garrison it : but, besides supplying the 
garrisons of the great lakes with provisions, etc., we ought to take 
into consideration the protection that such an arrangement will give 
to the frontiers of Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. I say New 



456 APPENDIX. 

York, as we shall undoubtedly extend our settlements and garrisons 
from the Hudson to Oswego. This done, and a garrison posted at 
Niagara, whoever will inspect the maps must be convinced that all the 
Indians living on the waters of the Mohawk, Oswego, Susquehanna 
and Alleghany Rivers, and in all the country south of the Lakes On- 
tario and Erie, will be encircled in such a manner as will effectually 
secure their allegiance and keep them quiet, or oblige them to quit 
their country. 

"Nor will such an arrangement of posts from the Ohio to Lake 
Erie be any additional expense, for unless this gap is shut, notwith- 
standing the garrisons on the lakes and from Oswego to the Hudson, 
yet the frontier settlers on the Ohio by Fort Pitt to the Susquelianna, and 
all the country south of the Mohawk, will be exposed to savage insult, 
unless protected by a chain of garrisons, which will be far more expen- 
sive than the arrangement proposed, and at the same time the protection 
given to these states will be much less complete ; besides, we should 
not confine our protection to the present settlements, but carry the 
idea of extending them at least as far as the Lakes Ontario and Erie. 

"These Lakes form such a natural barrier that, when connected 
with the Hudson and Ohio by the garrisons proposed, settlements in 
every part of the states of New York and Pennsylvania may be made 
with the utmost safety, so that these states must be deeply interested 
in the measure, as well as Virginia, who will, by the same arrange- 
ment, have a great part of its frontiers secured and the rest much 
strengthened ; nor is there a state in the Union but will be greatly 
benefited by the measure considered in another point of view, for, with- 
out any expense except a small allowance of purchase money to the 
natives, the United States will have witliin their protection 17,500,000 
acres of very fine lands to dispose of as they may think proper. 

"But I hasten to mention some of the expectations which the pe- 
titioners have respecting the conditions on which tliey hope to obtain 
the lands — this was not proper to mention in the body of the petition, 
especially as we pray for grants to all members of the army who wish 
to take up lands in that quarter. 

" The whole tract is supposed to contain about 17,418.240 acres, and 
will admit of 756 townships of six miles square, allowing to each town- 
ship 8,040 acres for the ministry, schools, waste lands, rivers, ponds 
and highways ; then each township will contain, of settlers' lands, 
20,000 acres, and in the whole, 15,120,000 acres. The land to which the 
army is entitled by the resolves of Congress referred to in the petition, 
according to my estimate, will amount to 2,106,850 acres, which is 
about the eighth part of the whole ; for the survey of this they expect 
to be at no expense, nor do they expect to be under any obligation to 
settle these lands, or do any duty to secure their title to them ; but. in 
order to induce the army to become settlers in the new government. 



APPENDIX. 457 

the petitioners hope Congress will make a further grant of lands, on 
condition of settlement, and have no doubt but that honorable body 
will be as liberal to all those who are not provided for bj^ their own 
states as New York has been to the officers and soldiers who belong to 
that state, which, if they do, it will require about 8.000.000 of acres to 
complete the army, and about 7,000,000 acres will remain for sale. 
That the petitioners, at least some of them, are much opposed to the 
monoi^oly of lands, and wish to guard against large patents being 
granted to individuals, as in their opinion such a mode is very in- 
jurious to a country, and greatly retards its settlement, and whenever 
such patents are tenanted, it throws too much power into the hands of 
a few. For these, and man}' other obvious reasons, the petitioners 
hope no grants will be made but by townships of six miles square, or 
six by twelve, or six by eigliteen miles, to be subdivided by the pro- 
prietors to six miles square, that being the standard on which they 
wish all calculations may be made, and that officers and soldiers, as 
well as those who petition for charters on purchase, may form their 
associations on one uniform principle, as to number of persons or 
rights to be contained in a township, with the exception only that, 
when the grant is made for reward of service alreadj' done, or on con- 
dition of settlement, if the officers petition with the soldiers for a par- 
ticular township, the soldiers shall have one right only to a captain's 
three, and so in proportion with commissioned officers of every grade. 

"These, sir, are the principles which gave rise to the petition under 
consideration ; the petitioners, at least some of them, conceive that 
sound policy dictates the measure, and that Congress ought to lose no 
time in establishing some such chain of posts as has been hinted at, 
and in procuring the tract of country petitioned for of the natives, for 
the moment this is done, and agreeable ter]iis offered to the settlers, 
many of the petitioners are determined, not only to become adven- 
turers, but actually to remove themselves to this country : and there is 
not the least doubt but other valuable citizens will follow their ex- 
ample, and the probability is that the country between Lake Erie and 
Ohio will be filled with inhabitants, and the faithful subjects of these 
United States so established on the waters of the Ohio and the lakes a& 
to banish forever the idea of our western territory falling under the 
dominion of any European power, the frontier of the old states will be 
effectually secured from savage alarms, and the new will have little to 
fear from their insults. 

" I have the honor to be, sir, with every sentiment of respect, your 
Excellency's most obedient and very humble servant, 

(Signed) " RuFUS Putnam. 

" Gen. Washington." * 

* " Life of Manasseh Cutler," vol. i., p. 167. 



468 APPENDIX. 

Ou June 17th, 1783, General Washington wrote to the 
President of Congress : 

" Headquarters, Newburgh, June 17, 1783. 

"Sir: — I have the honor of transmitting to your Excellency, for 
the consideration of Congress, a petition from a large number of 
officers of the army, in behalf of themselves and such other officers 
and soldiers of the continental army as are entitled to rewards in lands, 
and may choose to avail themselves of any privileges and grants which 
may be obtained in consequence of the present solicitation. I enclose 
also the copy of a letter from Brig.-General Putnam, in which the sen- 
timents and expectations of the petitioners are more fully explained, 
and in which the ideas of occupying the posts in the westei'n country 
will be found to correspond very nearly with those I have some time 
since communicated to a committee of Congress, in treating of the 
subject of a peace establishment. I will beg leave to make a few more 
observations on the general benefits of the location and settlement now 
proposed, and then submit the justice and policy of the measure to the 
wisdom of Congress. 

"Although I pretend not myself to determine how far the district 
of unsettled country, which is described in the petition, is free from 
the claim of everj^ state, or how far this disposal of it may interfere 
with the views of Congress, yet it appears to me this is the tract which, 
from local position and peculiar advantages, ought to be first settled in 
preference to any other whatever ; and I am perfectly convinced that 
it can not be so advantageously settled by any other class of men, as 
by disbanded officers and soldiers of the army, to whom the faith of 
government hath long since been pledged. The lands should be granted 
at the expiration of the war in certain proportions, agreeably to their 
respective grades. 

" I am induced to give my sentiments thus freeh' on the advantages 
to be expected from this plan of colonization, becavise it would connect 
our governments with the frontiers, extend our settlements progres- 
sively, and plant a brave, a hai'dy, and respectable race of people as our 
advanced post, who would be always ready and willing (in case of 
hostility) to combat the savages and check their incursions. A settle- 
ment formed by such men would give security to our frontiers ; the 
very name of it would awe the Indians, and more than probably pre- 
vent the murder of many innocent families, which frequently, in the 
usual mode of extending our settlements and encroachments on the 
hunting-grounds of the natives, fall the hapless victims to savage bar- 
barity. Besides the emoluments which might be derived from the 
peltry trade at our factories, if such should be established, the appeai'- 
ance of so formidable a settlement in the vicinity of their towns (to say 
nothing of the barrier it would form against our other neighbors) would 



APPENDIX. 459 

be the most likely means to enable us to purchase, upon equitable 
terms, of the aborigines, their right of pre-occupancy, and to induce 
them to relinquish our territories, and to remove into the illimitable 
regions of the west. 

" Much more might be said of the public utility of such a location, 
as well as of the private felicity it would afford to the individuals con- 
cerned in it. I will venture to say it is the most rational and practi- 
cable scheme which can be adopted by a great proportion of the 
officers and soldiers of our army, and promises them more happiness 
than they can expect in any other way. The settlers being in the 
prime of life, inured to hardship, and taught by experience to accom- 
modate themselves in every situation, going in a considerable body, 
and imder the patronage of government, would enjoy in the first in- 
stance advantages in procuring subsistence, and all the necessaries for 
a comfortable beginning, superior to any common class of emigrants, 
and quite unknown to those who have heretofore extended themselves 
beyond tlie Appalachian Mountains. They may expect, after a httle 
perseverance, competence and independence for themselves, a pleasant 
retreat in old age, and the fairest prospects for their children. 

" I have the honor to be, with great consideration, 

" Your Excellency's most obedient servant, 

(Signed) " George Washington. 

*' His Excellency, the President of Congress." * 

On April 5th, 1784, General Putnam wrote to General 
Washington : 

" Rutland, Ajjril 5, 1784. 

" Dear Sir : — Being unavoidably prevented from attending the 
general meeting of the Cincinnati at Philadelphia, as I had intended, 
where I once more expected the opportunity in person of paying my 
respects to your Excellency, I can not deny myself the honor of ad- 
dressing you by letter, to acknowledge with gratitude the ten thousand 
obligations I feel myself under to your goodness, and most sincerely to 
congratulate you on your i-efcurn to domestic happiness ; to inquire 
after your health, and wish the best of Heaven's blessings may attend 
you and your dear lady. 

"The settlement of the Ohio countiy, sir, engrosses many of my 
thoughts, and much of my time since I left the camp has been em- 
ployed in informing myself and others with respect to the nature, 
situation and circumstances of that country, and practicability of re- 
moving ourselves there ; and if I am to form an opinion on what I 
have seen and heai'd on the subject, there are thousands in this quarter 
who will emigrate to that country as soon as the honorable Congress 

♦•'Life of Manasseh Cutler, vol. i., p. 167. 



460 APPENDIX. 

make provisions for granting lands there, and locations and settlements 
can be made with safety, unless such provision is too long delayed — I 
mean, till necessity turn their views another way, which is the case 
with some already, and must soon be the case with many more. You 
are sensible of the necessity, as well as the possibility, of both officers 
and soldiers fixing themselves in business somewhere as soon as possi- 
ble, as many of them are unable to lie long on their oars, waiting the 
decision of Congress on our petition, and therefore must unavoidably 
settle themselves in some other quarter, which, when done, the idea of 
removing to the Ohio country will probably be at an end with respect 
to most of them ; besides, the commonwealth of Massachusetts have 
come to a resolution to sell their eastern country for public securi- 
ties ; and should their plan be formed and propositions be made public 
before we hear anything from Congress respecting our petition, and 
the terms on which tlie lands petitioned for are to be obtained, it will 
undoubtedly be much against us, by greatly lessening the number of 
Ohio associates. 

" Another reason why we wish to know as soon as possible what the 
intentions of Congress are respecting our petition, is the effect such 
knowledge will probably have on the credit of the certificates we have 
received in settlement of accounts. These securities are now selling at 
no more .than three shillings and six pence or four shillings on the 
pound, which in all probability might double, if no more, the moment 
it was known that government would receive them for lands in the 
Ohio country. From these circvimstances and many others which 
might be mentioned, we are growing quite impatient ; and the general 
inquiry now is, when are we going to the Ohio ? Among others, Brig.- 
Gen. Tupper, Lt.-Col. Oliver, and Maj. Ashley have agreed to accom- 
pany me to that country the moment the way is opened for such an 
undertaking. I should have hinted these things to some member of 
Congress, but the delegates from Massachusetts, though exceeding 
worthy men, and in general would wish to promote the Ohio scheme, 
yet, if it should militate against the particular interest of this state, 
by draining her of inhabitants, especially when she is forming the plan 
of selling the eastern country, I thought they would not be very warm 
advocates in our favor. And I dare not trust myself with any of the 
New York delegates with whom I am acquainted, because that gov- 
ernment are wisely inviting the eastern people to settle in that state ; 
and as to the delegates of other states, I have no acquaintance with 
any of them. 

" These circumstances must apologize for my troubling you on this 
subject, and requesting the favor of a line to inform us in this quarter 
what the prospects are with respect to our petition, and what measures 
have or are likely to be taken with respect to settling the Ohio country. 

" I shall take it as a particular favor, sir, if you will be kind enough 



APPENDIX. 461 

to recommend me to some character in Congress, acquainted with and 

attached to the Ohio cause, with whom I may pi-esume to open a 

correspondence. 

" I am, sir, with the highest respect, 

" Your humble servant, 

" RuFus Putnam. 
" Gen. Washington." * 

On June 2, 1784, General Washington replied to General 
Putnam : 

" Mount Vernon, June 2, 1784. 

" Dear Sir : — I could not answer your favor of the 5th of April, from 
Philadelphia, because General Knox, having mislaid, only presented 
the letter to me in the moment of ray departure from that place. The 
sentiments of esteem and friendship which breathe in it are exceed- 
ingly pleasing and flattering to me, and you may rest assured they are 
reciprocal. 

' ' I wish it was in my power to give you a more favorable account 
of the officers' petition for lands on the Ohio and its waters than I am 
about to do. After this matter, and information respecting the estab- 
Ushment for peace, were my inquiries, as I went through Annapolis, 
solely directed, but I could not learn that anything decisive had been 
done in either. 

" On the latter, I hear Congress are differing about their powers ; 
but, as they have accepted of the cession from Virginia, and have re- 
solved to lay off ten new states, bounded by latitudes and longitudes, 
it should be supposed that they would determine something respecting 
the former before they adjourn, and yet I very much question it, as the 
latter is to happen on the third, that is to-morrow. As the Congress who 
are to meet in November next, by the adjournment, will be composed 
of an entire new choice of delegates in each state, it is not in my 
power, at this time, to direct you to a proper correspondent in that 
body. I wish I could, for persuaded I am that to some such cause as 
you have assigned may be ascribed the delay the petition has encoun- 
tered ; for, surely, if justice and gratitude to the army, and general 
policy of the Union, were to govern in this case, there would not be 
the smallest interruption in granting its request. I really feel for those 
gentlemen who, by these unaccountable delays (by anj^ other means 
than those you have suggested), are held in such an awkward and dis- 
agreeable state of suspense, and wish my endeavoi-s could remove the 
obstacles. At Princeton, before Congress left that place, I exerted 
every power I was master of, and dwelt upon the argument you have 
used, to show the propriety of a speedy decision. Every member with 

* " Life of Manasseh Cutler," vol. i., p. 167. 



462 APPENDIX. 

whom I conversed acquiesced in the reasonableness of the petition. 
All yielded, or seemed to yield, to the policy of it, but pleaded the want 
of cession of the land to act upon ; this has been made and accepted, 
and yet matters, as far as they have come to my knowledge, remain in 
statu quo. I am endeavoring to do something with the lands I now 
hold and have held in that country these twelve or fourteen years. 
The inclosed contains the terms upon which I propose to lease them. 
If you think the promulgation of the paper inclosed can be of service 
to myself, it is optional with you to do so. 

" I am, dear sir, with very sincere esteem and regard, 
" Your most obedient servant, 

" G. Washington. 
" Gen. R. Putnam." * 

* " Life of Manasseh Cutler," vol. i., p. 167. 



INDEX. 



Acadians : nine sent to Wethersfield, 
7 ; pat under care of John Faterson, 
7 ; history of, 8 ; disloyal to Eng- 
land, 8. 

Adams and Williamstown, (Mass.), 
Gen. I'aterson disperses the rebels 
from, 368. 

Adams, John : defends the soldiers in 
Boston, 21 ; on sufferings of the 
army, 85 ; on a committee to collect 
evidence about the surrender of 
Ticonderoga, 120. 

Adams, Samuel : moves a committee 
of correspondence, 22 ; arrest of, 
ordered, 29 ; proposes a Continental 
Congress, 30 ; one of a committee to 
address the Mohawk and the Stock- 
bridge Indians, 46 ; proscribed, 50 ; 
and Hancock not corruptible by 
Gov. Gage, 50 ; thinks indepen- 
dence necessary, 65. 

Adjutant-General : rank, 15S. 

Agrippa ( " Grippy " ) Hull, Gen. 
Faterson's servant, 308. 

Aid-de-camp : pay of, 157 ; to a ma- 
jor-general to be a captain, 157. 

Alarm orders at Cambridge, 72 ; sig- 
nals, 73. 

Alarm posts at West Point, 254. 

Albany : colonial congress at, in 1754, 
16 ; to be taken by Burgoyne, 109 ; 
Burgoyne determines to capture, 
132. 

Albemarle, Lord : commands the 
army sent to Martinique, 10 ; com- 
mands the army against Havana, 10. 

Allen, Parson, comes to Bennington, 
118. 

Alliance with France celebrated, 152. 

America, Gladstone's opinion of, 306. 

American ports : closed by British, 9 ; 
opened by Congress, 9. 

Ames, Moses, signs a petition about 
wolves, 317. 



Amherst, Gen. Sir Jeffrey : commands 
expedition against Canada, 9, 10 ; 
commands expedition to Marti- 
nique, 10 ; advises the King to send 
reinforcements, 147. 

Amnesty : unconditional, granted after 
the surrender of Burgoyne, 136 ; 
offered the rebels on condition of 
taking the oath, 349 ; offered the 
insurgents, Feb. 16, 1787, 367 ; 
general, refused, 378. 

Amusements, 391. 

Anchors used in the obstructions at 
West Point, 191. 

Andre, Major, trial of, 225. 

Andrews, David, bond of, as pay- 
master with Major Faterson, 412. 

Anthony's Nose, obstructions at, 126. 

Arms delivered to Col. Paterson, 54. 

Arms taken from every one but sol- 
diers, 218. 

Arms, want of, in 1780, 221. 

Armstrong, Major, author of the New- 
burgh letters, 274. 

Army : composed of men who were 
not soldiers, 64 ; at first local, 64 ; 
becomes the Continental, 64 ; had 
to be created and constantly made 
over, 64 ; a new one to be enlisted, 
68 ; not necessary when Boston was 
surrendered, 73 ; from Boston sent 
to Canada, 82 ; a regular, not yet 
made, loi ; organization of, begun 
again after Saratoga, loi ; went 
home after Saratoga, 149 ; a large 
standing, not possible, 149 ; condi- 
tion of, described by Washington, 
149 ; only real representative of 
unity, 149 ; loss in, from sickness 
and exposure, 149 ; religious spirit 
of, 152 ; a standing, not allowed, 
196 ; not paid in 1779, 205 ; in 
1779 sustains itself by foragmg, 
205 ; deplorable condition of, in 



463 



464 



INDEX. 



Army. — Continued. 

1780, 223 ; rebrigaded in 17S1, 
232 ; in the Highlands, value of, 
244; distress of, in 1782, 2S0 ; or- 
ganization of, in 1782, 2S4 ; dis- 
banded, 301. 

Arnold, B. : letter to, by the Com- 
missioners, about small-pox, 86 ; 
treated unfairly by Gates, 124 ; 
at Saratoga, 135 ; replaced by Gen. 
Lincoln, 135 ; at Bemis' Heights. 
135 ; part of his treason in relation 
to the chain at West Point, 192 ; 
treason of, 222 ; plans frustrated, 
223. 

Arnold, John, ensign in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment in 1776, 96. 

Arsenal at Springfield to be attacked, 

347- 

Artillery: how to be paid and equipped, 
155 ; bowers of , dangerous, 271. 

Ashley, Col. John : signs a petition 
about small-pox, 315 ; replies to 
Gen. Paterson, 345. 

Ashley, Moses, ensign in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, 52. 

Assembly : not convened by the gov- 
ernor, 20 ; of Virginia dissolved by 
the governor, 31. 

Avery, Rev. D. : chaplain in Col. Pat- 
erson's regiment, 52, 96 ; account 
of the battle of Trenton, 100. 

Avery, John : orders the delivery of 
arms to Col. Paterson 's regiment, 
loi ; junior secretary, 320. 

Bacon, John, ist lieutenant in Col. 
Paterson's regiment in 1776, 96. 

Baggage train of the British in 1778, 
162. 

Bail available for the criminal, but 
not for the debtor, 334. 

Balcarras, Earl, intrenchments of, as- 
saulted, 135. 

Ball, John, interest in lands in Maine, 
321. 

Bank of England founded by William 
Paterson, i. 

Barker, James, signs a petition about 
small-pox, 315. 

Barnes, T., major in 12th Mass. 
Regiment, 143. 

Barnett, Rev. John, chaplain in 17S3, 
285, 299. 

Barren Hill, Lafayette at, 161. 

Bates, Edward, a wounded soldier in 
1779, 204. 



Battles : of Bunker Hill, 59 ; of 
Moore's Creek, 91 ; of Trenton, 
98, 99 ; of Princeton, 99 ; of Ben- 
nington, 118 ; of Freeman's Farm, 
133. 134; of Saratoga, 134; of 
Stillwater, 134 ; of Bemis' Heights, 
134 ; of Monmouth, councils pre- 
vious to, 162. 

Beacons on the Hudson River, 79. 

Bedel, Col., his regiment at the Ce- 
dars to be inoculated, 86. 

Bement, E.,of Great Barrington, tar- 
dily paid, 233. 

Bement, Major; wounded at Hubar- 
ton, 112 ; captain in 3d Mass. Bri- 
gade, 143. 

Bemis' Heights : situation of, 132 ; 
two battles of, 133, 134. 

Bennington : a depot of supplies, 118 ; 
battle of, iiS; how regarded in 
England, iig, 151 ; battle of, swells 
the ranks of the Americans, 131 ; de- 
feat at, disheartens Burgoyne, 131. 

Berkshire Convention, 29, 32. 

Berkshire County : settlers of, where 
from, 14 ; resists taxation without 
representation, 28 ; part of Hamp- 
shire County up to 1761, 31 ; ap- 
points John Paterson to advise the 
Committee of Safety and Supplies 
about the appointment of officers, 
48 ; towns dislike inoculation, 85 ; 
courts in, not to be held, 347 ; in- 
surgents in, 360. 

Berkshire regiment : how composed, 
42 ; marches immediately after the 
battle at Concord, 42. 

Bernard, Governor : orders ;;^400 to 
be paid by the Assembly, 11 ; 
misrepresents the colonies, 19 ; re- 
quires Massachusetts to rescind the 
circular letter, 19 ; recalled and 
made knight, 21. 

Bill of Rights asserted by the discon- 
tented, 336. 

Bird, Joseph, father of Ruth Pater- 
son, 5. 

Bird, Ruth, married Major Pater- 
son, 3. 

Bishop, Nath., signs a petition about 
small-pox, 315. 

Blake, Joseph, interest in lands in 
Maine, 321. 

Blanchard, Claude, extract from his 
journal, 241. 

Blankets delivered to Col. Paterson, 62. 



INDEX. 



•465 



Bliss, Theodore, captain in Col. Pat- 
erson's regiment in 1776, g6. 

Boats, order of Gen. Paterson about, 
214. 

Books consulted, list of, 448. 

Boom at West Point used as a bridge, 
190. 

Bordentown, burning of stores at, 
152. 

Boston : declared rebellious, and 
troops sent there, ig, 20 ; troops 
withdrawn from, 20-22 ; tea ships 
sent to, 23 ; army about, increased, 
38 ; town-meeting of March 5, 1775, 
50 ; size of army besieging, 64 ; 
news that the troops were coming 
received at, 67 ; evacuation of, by 
the British, 75 ; resolves to sustain 
the governor, 346 ; merchants make 
a loan to the State, 350. 

Boston Common, troops encamped 
on, 20. 

Boston Massacre, 20. 

Boston Neck fortified by Gov. Gage, 

35- 

Boston Port Rill, 25 : reaches Boston, 
28 ; day of going into effect made a 
fast, 29. 

Boston Purchase, 395. 

Boston Tea Party, 24 : considered by 
some unwarranted, by others a 
splendid act, 25 ; how regarded in 
England, 25. 

Bowdoin, Governor : commission of, 
to Gen. Paterson, 320 ; calls a con- 
vention for a separate government 
of Maine, 322 ; visits the other gov- 
ernors, 375 ; refuses to have his 
salary reduced, 376; resigns, 378 ; 
as governor, 380 ; our debt to him, 
382. 

Bowdoin, William, lieutenant in Col. 
Paterson's regiment, 52. 

Bowers of the regiments dangerous, 
271. 

Brackett, B., lieutenant-colonel 14th 
Mass. Regiment, 143. 

Bradford, G. , colonel 14th Mass. Regi- 
ment, 143 ; colonel 3d Mass. Bri- 
gade (Paterson's), 168. 

Bradish, E., unjustly accused, and 
received a certificate to that effect, 
48. 

Brandy wine, defeat at, loc), no. 

Brewer, S., colonel 12th Mass. Regi- 
ment, in 3d Mass. Brigade, 143. 



Brigade: major, pay of. 137; quar- 
termaster, how appointed, 157; 
quartermaster, pay of, 157 ; 3d 
Mass., stationed at West Point, 176 ; 
1st Mass., returns of, in 1781, 234; 
Gen. Paterson's, in 1781-82, 235. 

Brigading of regiments, 76. 

Bristol courts prevented from sitting, 
344- 

British : control the sea, 78 ; take 
New York, 79 ; loss at Fort Wash- 
ington, 89 ; sail past Fort Washing- 
ton, 89 ; plan of campaign for 1776, 
93 ; plan of campaign for 1777, 109 ; 
government repeal all oppressive 
acts after surrender of Burgoyne, 
142 ; become conciliatory, 142 ; 
troops threaten to mutiny in 1778, 
147 ; afraid of being blockaded in 
Philadelphia, 161 ; did not fear sol- 
diers without uniforms, 161 ; after 
Monmouth, act on the defensive, 
167 ; depend on their fleets, ig6 ; 
fear an attack on New York over 
the ice, 2.^2. 

Brooks, John, colonel in 7th Mass. 
Brigade in 1783, 285. 

Broome County, Gen. Paterson chief- 
justice in, 231. 

Brown, Col., in Paterson's brigade, 
16S. 

Brown, John, agent to collect news 
in Canada. 44. 

Brown, Justin, administers oath to 
John Paterson, 13. 

Brunson, Wm., signs a petition about 
small-po.\, 315. 

Bunker Hill: taken possession of by 
order of the Committee of Safety, 
57 ; battle of, 58 ; American loss 
in, 59 ; British loss in, 59 ; a few 
such British victories would have 
destroyed the British army, 60 ; 
Burgoyne starts on the second an- 
niversary of, log. 

Burgoyne : at Crown Point, 109 ; de- 
termines to take Albany, log ; In- 
dian allies of, log ; receives the 
news of St. Leger's defeat, log ; 
takes the field, log ; confident of 
capturing the whole American army, 
116 ; orders imperative, 124 ; sent 
from Canada to take Albany, 124; 
builds a bridge over the Hudson, 
132 ; crosses the Hudson, 132 ; dis- 
heartened by his defeat at Benning- 



466 



INDEX. 



Bur{joyne. — Continued. 

ton, 132 ; strives to retrieve the 
prestige of the British army after 
Bennington, 132 ; retreats across 
the Fishkill, 135 ; retreat cut off, 
136 ; starts for Fort Edward, 136 ; 
sends a flag of truce to Gen. Gage, 
136 ; surrenders, 136 ; army remain 
prisoners of war, 137 ; goes to Eng- 
land on parole, 138. 

Burial done Avith feet to the east, 3S9. 

Burke a friend of America, 147. 

Burnam, John, proposed as major, 
287. 

Butter, value of, in 1780, 22g. 

Cady, Jeremiah, in Col. Paterson's 
regiment, 52. 

Cambridge : Second Provincial Con- 
gress meets at, 45 ; attack on, feared 
by Gen. Ward, 59 ; defended by 
Col. Paterson, 61 ; Gen. Washing- 
ton takes command at, 63 ; court- 
martial at, 6g ; Washington's situa- 
tion at, in October, 1775, critical, 
6g ; cannon from Ticonderoga ar- 
rive at, 71 ; orders for alarm, 72 ; 
court at, protected, 349. 

Camp an irregular one, 59. 

Campaign : British plan of, for 1776, 
93 ; for possession of the Hudson 
in 1776 ends in October, 142. 

Canada : John Brown sent to collect 
men in, 44 ; invasion of, determined 
on, 67 ; army sent to, from Boston, 
82 ; orders for, 83 ; abandoned by 
Burgoyne, 132 ; rebels seek aid in 
vain from, 377. 

Canadian expedition hopeless, 86. 

Candles wanted at W'est Point, 253. 

Cannon : from Ticonderoga arrive in 
Cambridge, 71 ; used for signals, 

79- 
Carleton : retreats from Crown Point, 

122 ; retreat from Crown Point 

helps Washington 123. 
Castle William, in Boston Harbor, 20. 
Cavalry, how to be paid and equipped, 

156. 
Cedars, battle of the, Col. Paterson's 

loss at, 87. 
Celebration at the birth of the Dauphin 

of France, 268. 
Chain : at Fort Montgomery sent to 

England, 128 ; at West Point, 182 ; 

at West Point, contract for, 187 ; 

for West Point made at New Wind- 



sor, 191 ; links of, by whom pos- 
sessed, 192. 

Chapin, Samuel, ist Lieut, in Col. 
Paterson's regiment in 1776, 52. 

Charles II.: grants a charter to Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, 26 ; petitioned 
about the charter, 27. 

Charleston, S. C: tea ships sent to, 
23 ; tea spoiled at, 24. 

Charter : of Connecticut, when 
granted, 11 ; of Massachusetts Bay 
Co., surrender of, demanded, 26 ; 
of Massachusetts, a new one granted 
by William and Mary, 27 ; de- 
manded, but not surrendered, 27 ; 
vacated in 1686, 27 ; of Massachu- 
setts Bay Co. attacked, 323 ; de- 
clared void, 323. 

Chatham, Lord : wishes to avoid the 
war, 31 ; wishes a repeal of oppres- 
sive laws, 38 ; speecla of, in 1778 
147 ; stricken with death in the 
House of Lords, 147. 

Cheveaux de frise, 82 ; at Pallopel's 
Island, 131. 

("hevron for Massachusetts troops 

Children, military play of, 394. 

Childs, Dr. Timothy : in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment in 1776, 52 ; urges 
inoculation, 86. 

Churchyard hired out, 389. 

Cincinnati, Society of the : formation 
of, 311 ; Gen. Paterson president 
and vice-president of the Massachu- 
setts Society, 311. 

Circular letters sent by Massachusetts 
to the other colonies, 9. 

Clarendon, Lord, grants charter to 
Connecticut, 11. 

Clark, William, Lieut, in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, 52. 

Clemency refused after June 29, 1787, 
378. 

Clinton, Gov.: adjourns the legislature 
to defend Fort Montgomery, 127 ; 
urges defenses at West Point, 184. 

Clinton, Sir Henry : organizes an ex- 
pedition up the river, 125 ; sends a 
message to Burgoyne too late, 133 ; 
communicates the conciliatory bills 
to Congress, 148 ; evacuates Phila- 
delphia, 162 ; wishes to avoid fight- 
ing, 163 ; attacks Lee at Monmouth, 

163 ; attacks Wayne at Monmouth, 

164 ; attacks the left wing at Mon- 



INDEX. 



4H7 



Clinton, Sir Henry. — Continued . 
mouth, 165 ; expected to capture 
the French army, 225 ; fears an 
attack on New York, 242 ; dis- 
covers that Washington has started 
south, 244 ; sails from New York to 
aid Cornwallis, 277. 

Clinton, Gen. James : escapes from 
Fort Montgomery, 127 ; commands 
in the Highlands, 130. 

Closterseven, an example of the re- 
fusal to ratify, 137. 

Clothes, value of a suit in 1780, 229. 

Clothing : perishing for want of trans- 
portation, 145 ; petition for, 197. 

Cobb, General, his reply to the rioters 
at Taunton, 344. 

Coffee, value of, in 1780, 229. 

Cole, Lieut. Thomas, aide-de-camp to 
Gen. Paterson, 232. 

Colonial Congress: first proposed, 17 ; 
governor's idea of, 17 ; people's 
idea of, 17. 

Colonies : governed by Lords of Trade, 
15 ; relations with England peace- 
ful, 17 ; all represented in the 
Continental Congress, 55 ; thirteen 
declare for independence, 107 ; in- 
dependence acknowledged, 278. 

Colonists : wish only redress, 65 ; a 
commercial company, 3S5. 

Commerce thought to be the importa- 
tion of luxuries, 339. 

Commissariat Department, inefficiency 
lof, at Valley Forge, 145. 

Commission for peace : arrive June, 
1778, 147 ; issue a proclamation, 
148 ; not received by Congress, 
148 ; return to Europe, 148. 

Commission of pardons restore 791 
persons, 376. 

Commissioners : given power to sus- 
pend acts of Parliament, 136 ; sent 
to make a treaty of peace, 142 ; en- 
raged, 148 ; appointed to grant 
pardons, 376. 

Commissions not sent by the Provin- 
cial Court, 67. 

Committee of Correspondence : moved 
for by Samuel Adams, 22 ; ask for 
advice about tea, 23 ; issue a circular 
letter to all the colonies, 28. 

Committee of Safety : commission John 
Paterson as colonel, 42 ; John F'ater- 
son on a committee to revise its 
commission, 43 ; order Bunker Hill 



to be occupied, 57 ; send Col. Pater- 
son arms, 64. 

Committee of Safety and Supplies, 
John Paterson to advise, about offi- 
cers from Berkshire, 48. 

Commutation of pay a grievance, 336. 

Companies, two more join Col. Pater- 
son, 62. 

Conciliatory bills cause dissatisfaction, 
147- 

Concord : troops sent to, to arrest 
Adams and Hancock, 50 ; and Lex- 
ington, battles of, result in Gov. 
Gage being besieged in Boston, 51 ; 
courts prevented from sitting, 344. 

Congress : of all colonies advocated 
in 1754 but failed, 16 ; of colonies 
called at Albany in 1754, 16 ; 
Colonial, first proposed, 17 ; Colo- 
nial, governor's idea of, 17 ; Colo- 
nial, people's idea of, 17 ; a gen- 
eral, called to protest against the 
Stamp Act, 18 ; at Worcester in 
1774, 30 ; an annual, proposed, 31; 
assembles at Philadelphia, 35 ; Pro- 
vincial, organized, 37 ; Provincial, 
Gov. Gage's reply to, 37 ; Provin- 
cial, guilty of treason, 37 ; Conti- 
nental and Provincial, held in 1774, 
38 ; made Declaration of Inde- 
pendence possible, 39 ; Provincial, 
supported by the towns, 41 ; First 
Provincial, why dissolved, 42 ; Sec- 
ond Provincial, assumes the govern- 
ment, 48 ; Second Provincial, dele- 
gates summoned to return, 50 ; 
Second Provincial, adjourns, 53 ; 
Third Provincial, meets at Water- 
town, 54 ; Continental, meets in 
Philadelphia, 54 ; Continental, pro- 
vincial congresses surrender their 
powers to, 55 ; Continental, repre- 
sents all the colonies, 55 ; Pro- 
vincial, how to be considered, 56 ; 
Third Provincial, petitioned by Col. 
Paterson for supplies, 6r ; Provin- 
cial, neglects to send commissions, 
67 ; sends men from Pennsylvania, 
Marj'land, and Virginia to Boston, 
64 ; petitions the King. 64 ; resolves 
to send no more petitions to the 
King. 64 ; not willing to declare for 
independence, 64 ; votes for inde- 
pendence, 85 ; Provincial, organized 
in North Carolina, 91 ; Continental, 
advises each colony to form a gov- 



468 



INDEX. 



Congress. — Continued. 

ernment, 91 ; Continental, issues 
letters of marque, qi ; Continental, 
assembles at I'hiladelphia, 92 ; no- 
tified of the fall of Ticonderoga, 
116 ; mortified by the surrender of 
I'iconderoga, 116; investigates the 
surrender of Ticonderoga, 116; to 
dictate terms of peace, 147 ; re- 
fuses to receive the commissioners, 
148 ; proposed address to, 148 ; 
faith in, lost, 14S ; its powers not 
defined, 153 ; Continental, did not 
represent the country, 153 ; will 
treat only on basis of independence, 
153 ; could not impose taxes, 229 ; 
without money in 1779, 229 ; issues 
" fiat " money, 229 ; redeems bonds 
in 1780, 230; memorial to, 256; 
members of, from Massachusetts, 
letter to, 258 ; petition to, 291 ; did 
not command the confidence of the 
people, 304 ; movement to compel 
it to fulfil its obligations, 305 ; 
spends part of the debt, 305 ; asked 
to defend its arsenal and to com- 
mission Gen. Lincoln, 375 ; Gen. 
Paterson in, 397. 

Congressional currency, amount of, 
148. 

Connecticut : charter of, when granted, 
II ; number of men from, at Boston, 
63 ; raises first American flag, 64 ; 
regiments rebel, 216. 

Consignees of tea ships in Boston re- 
fuse to resign, 23. 

Constitution of Massachusetts not to 
be amended until 1795, a cause of 
grievance, 33S. 

Continental Congress : proposed by 
the Sons of Liberty, 30 ; delegates 
to, appointed, 30 ; a second one ap- 
pointed for May 11, 1775, 31 ; as- 
sembles at Philadelphia, 31, 35, 54, 
92 ; provincial congresses surrender 
their powers to, 55 ; First, repre- 
sents all the colonies, 55 ; issues let- 
ters of marque, 91 ; advises each 
colony to form a separate govern- 
ment, 91. 

Continental currency, counterfeits, 
195. 

Continental money, value of, in 1778, 
195- 

Conventions : called at Boston, 20 ; in 
Berkshire County, 29 ; at Worcester, 



30 ; at Stockbridge, 32 ; the Berk- 
shire, 32 ; county, 32 ; in Suffolk 
County, 35 : county, held in 1774, 
38 ; county, made Declaration of 
Independence possible, 39 ; in Wor- 
cester and Suffolk Counties, 336 ; in 
Hatfield, 337 ; at Deerfield, 337 ; 
called to discuss grievances, 340 ; 
at first respectable, 341 ; in Hamp- 
shire County, •341 ; at Hatfield, 
Hampton County, definition of 
liberty at, 341 ; called at Worcester, 
341, 349; at Lenox, 343; in Mid- 
dlesex County, 344. 

Corn, value of, in 1780, 229. 

Cornwallis, Lord : asks leave to go to 
England, 98 ; news of defeat by 
Washington, 99 ; anxious for his 
supplies, retreats, 100 ; could not 
inform the King that the rebellion 
was suppressed, 10 1 ; surrenders, 
100, 277 ; boasts, 228. 
I Council : of war in 1778, 152 : pre- 
vious to the battle of Monmouth, 
167 ; for New England surrenders 
its charter, 324. 

Counterfeits of continental currency, 
195- 

Country loses faith in Congress, 148. 

Court, General : called by Gov. Gage, 
35 ; order for, rescinded by Gov. 
Gage, 35 ; revocation of the order 
for, causes great dissatisfaction, 36 ; 
counter-proclamation of the gover- 
nor disregarded, 36 ; to be held at 
Salem, 36 ; waits one day for the 
governor, 37 ; assembles on October 
5. 1774- 37 ; attempts relief, 335 ; 
called for Feb. 3, 1787, indorses 
Gen. Lincoln, 357 ; offers rewards 
for the arrest of insurgents, 367. 

Court, Superior, empowered to try 
persons obstructing the laws, 348. 

Court-house in Lenox : when com- 
pleted, 314 ; subscription to build, 
412. 

Court-martial, 71 ; at Cambridge, 69 ; 
of ensigns Sawyer and Frye, report 
of, 278. 

Courts : closed in 1774, not opened 
till 1780, 31 ; re-established in 1780, 
38 ; law, prejudice against, 333 ; a 
rich man's remedy, 336 ; obstructed, 
340 ; sitting of, prevented at Spring- 
field, 342 ; governor calls on the 
citizens to protect them, 342 ; pre- 



INDEX. 



469 



Courts. — Continued. 

vented at Northampton, 342 ; pre- 
vented from sitting at Worcester, 
Concord, Taunton, and Bristol, 344 ; 
prevented at Great Harrington, 345 ; 
prevented at Springfield, 347 ; in 
Berkshire County not to be held, 
347 ; prevented at Cambridge, 
349 ; prevented at Springfield and 
Worcester, 350. 

Crane, Col. John, signs a petition to 
Congress, 2S2. 

Criminal could be bailed but the 
debtor not, 334. 

Crooper, Col., in Gen. Woodford's 
brigade, 168. 

Cross of St. George replaced by thir- 
teen stars, 92. 

Crown Point : taken by the British, 
84 ; sufferings of the army at, 85 ; 
surrenders to the Americans, 92 ; 
abandoned by the British, 93 ; Bur- 
goyne at, 119; Carleton's retreat 
from, 122. 

Cumpston, Edw. : 2d lieutenant in 
Col. Paterson's regiment, 68 ; asks 
for his commission, 68 ; ist lieu- 
tenant in Col. Paterson's regiment 
in 1776, 96. 

Currency : congressional, amount of, 
148 ; counterfeit, worth about as 
much as real, 195 ; Continental Con- 
gress issue fifty millions, 196 ; false, 
difficult to distinguish, 205 ; of the 
country debased, 332. 

Cushing, Thomas, one of a committee 
to address the Mohawk and the 
Stockbridge Indians, 46. 

Cushman, Capt. Nathaniel, brigade 
major in 1783, 289. 

Danforth, Joshua, aide-de-camp to 
Gen. Paterson, 330. 

Darby, S., captain in 3d Mass. 
Brigade, 143. 

Darien canal, Wm. Paterson's remarks 
on, I. 

Dauphin of France, birth of, cele- 
brated, 268. 

Davis, Robert, second lieutenant in 
Col. Paterson's regiment in 1776, 
96. 

Day, Luke : insurgent forces under, 
at West Springfield, 352 ; his 
character, 354 ; an abler man than 
Shays, 354 ; cannot co-operate with 
Shays, 354 ; irritated at Shays' 



failure, is routed by Gen. Lincoln, 
356 ; not to be pardoned, 376. 

Debt : after the war, 305 ; war, how 
to be paid, 305 ; of Massachusetts 
in 1786, 333 ; of the State shown 
to be reasonable, 349. 

Debtor could not be bailed, 334. 

Debtor laws : severity of, 332 ; not 
ameliorated by the constitution of 
1780, 334. 

Debts, by the law of 1782 made pay- 
able in cattle or produce, 340. 

Declaration of Independence : made 
possible, 39 ; accepted last by New 
York, 91 ; read at the head of each 
brigade, 91 ; made after eleven 
years of unprovoked irritation, 92 ; 
never reconsidered, 92. 

Deerfield convention, 337. 

Defenses of the Hudson River : in 
charge of a committee, 185 ; report 
of the committee on, 186. 

De Grasse, Count, enters the Chesa- 
peake, 243. 

Delaware : votes for independence, 
84 ; crossing of the, 98. 

Diary of Gen. Paterson, 415. 

Dibble, Charles, captain in Col. Pat- 
erson's regiment, 52. 

Dickinson, Elizur, sells lands to Gen. 
Paterson, 312. 

Discipline, neglect of, not tolerated, 

.63- . 
Dissatisfaction among higher officers, 

26. 
Distress of army on account of want 

of meat, 272. 
Dobbs' Ferry, Gen. Paterson erects a 

block-house at, 221. 
Dollar : paper, value of.in 1778, 229 ; 

in 1880, 236 ; silver, value of, in 

1786, 332. 
Domestic life self-dependent, 393. 
Dorchester Heights fortified, 71. 
Douglas, Capt. Asa : in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, 53 ; letter about 

Ticonderoga, 106. 
Dragoons, how tobe paid and equipped, 

Duballet, John, interest in lands in 
Maine, 321. 

Duning, Benjamin, signs a petition 
about wolves, 317. 

Duties, except tea, repealed, 21. 

Edwards, Rev. Jonathan, holds mis- 
sion lands, 312. 



470 



INDEX. 



Egleston, Azariah : in Col. Paterson's 
regiment, 51 ; deputy-quartermaster- 
general, 330 ; marries Hannah Pat- 
erson, 399 ; notice of, 399 ; inscrip- 
tion on the Paterson-Egleston monu- 
ment, 447. 

Egleston, Thomas : puts up a tablet in 
Trinity Church, Lenox, 399 ; erects 
headstones in the cemetery, 402 ; 
ereats monument in the town, 402 ; 
speech at unveiling of the monu- 
ment, 425. 

Ellery, Jane, witness to Major Pater- 
son's bond, 412. 

Ellsworth, Oliver, friend of Gen. Pat- 
eison, 12. 

Ely, Justin, signs a petition about 
wolves, 317. 

Ely, Samuel, riot made by, in 17S2, 

337. 

Emmons, Nathaniel, friend of Gen. 
Paterson, 12. 

Endicott defaces the flag, 66. 

England : relations of the colonies 
with, peaceful, 17 ; the acts of, con- 
sidered despotic, 33 : debt of, in 
1778, 146. 

English : flag up to 1606, 66 ; flag 
in 1607, 66 ; dissatisfied at the time 
of Arnold's treason, 223. 

Enhstments : difficult in 1776, 97 ; for 
short periods, loi. 

Established religion : controlled every- 
thing, 386 ; abolished in 1820, 387. 

Farm, the Paterson, in Lenox, 312. 

Farmers : thought it of little import- 
ance to which party they belonged, 
194 ; thought trade should bear the 
burden of taxation, 339. 

Farmington annexed to Newington, 2. 

Fellows, Brig. -Gen., at council of war 
at Fort Edward, 112. 

Fermoy, De Roche, Gen.: at council 
of war at Ticonderoga, in; ordered 
to headquarters, 117. 

Fernald, T., major 12th Mass. Regi- 
ment, 143. 

Fiat money adopted by Congress, 228. 

Fighting but little after the treason of 
Arnold, 229. 

Fire : ships, 82 ; ships requested by 
Washington, 88 ; at West Point, 
Gen. Paterson at, 207. 

Fisheries reduced during the war and 
after, 339. 

Fishkill, Gen. Gates ordered to, 152. 



Fitch, Gerard : quartermaster in Col. 
Paterson's regiment, 52, 96 ; ensign 
in Col. Paterson's regiment, 96. 

Flag : the first American, used by Con- 
necticut, 65 ; ceremony of raising 
the first American, 65 ; English, in 
1607, 66; change of color accepted 
in Massachusetts, 66 ; of Massa- 
chusetts in 1651, 66 ; saluting it 
alarms the British, 66 ; the King's 
colors, 66 ; Washington advises the 
adoption of one, 66 ; union mottoes 
on, 67 ; for the army, 70 ; used for 
signals, 80 ; first, raised by Wash- 
ington, 92 ; second, raised by Wash- 
ington, 92 ; committee appointed to 
make one, 107 ; first one made by 
Betsey Ross, 107 ; first military 
service at Fort Stanwix, 108. 

Fleets : of England, France, and 
Spain, 196; British depend on, 196. 

Flour, value of, in 17S0, 229. 

Flower of the Continental army, 70. 

Fort Clinton, 82, 127 ; called Fort 
Vaughn by British, 129 ; destroyed 
by the British, 129. 

Fort Constitution, 81 ; destroyed by 
Gen. Tryon, 12S ; refuses to sur- 
render, 128. 

Fort Defiance at Ticonderoga, no ; 
occupied by Gen. Phillip, no; 
neglecting to fortify similar to that 
at Dorchester in 1778, in. 

Fort Edward, council of war at, 
112. 

Fort George, Col. Paterson ordered 
to, 92. 

Fort Independence, Si. 

Fort Lafayette, 81. 

Fort Lee, 81 ; demolished, 89. 

Fort Montgomery: obstruction at, 82 ; 
Gen. Paterson at, 127 ; chain at, 
sent to England, 128 ; destroyed by 
British, 128. 

Fort Moultrie, battle of, 88. 

Fort Putnam, 82. 

Fort Stanwix : flag first used there, 
108 ; to be taken by St. Leger, 122. 

Fort Vaughn, 129. 

Fort Washington, 81 ; obstruction at, 
82, 89 ; taken by the British, 97. 

Forts Montgomery and Clinton, in- 
quiries as to the loss of, 160. 

Fourth Mass. Brigade sent to Rhode 
Island, 176. 

Fox a friend of America, 147. 



INDEX. 



471 



France : makes a treaty with the 
United States, 146 ; alliance with, 
celebrated. 152 ; King of, receives 
the news of peace, 278 ; and Spain 
give money for the war, 305 ; and 
Spain and Holland, money borrowed 
from, 305. 

Francis, Col., in Gen. Paterson's bri- 
gade, 143. 

Francis, Philip, court-martial of, 274. 

Freeman's Farm : main fighting done 
by the left wing, 133 ; battle of, 

133- 134- 

Freibeger, Col., in Woodford's bri- 
gade, r68. 

French and Spanish loans used in 
1780, 229. 

French, in 1 780, did not rely on Ameri- 
cans, 224. 

French officers go back to France, 160. 

French reinforcements, news of, reach 
Valley Forge, 152. 

Frigates, American, burned at Fort 
Montgomery, 128. 

Frye, Ensign, dispute of rank, 276. 

Gage, General : made governor, 28 ; 
ofTers pardon to all except Adams 
and Hancock, 57. 

Gage, Governor : issues a precept for a 
General Court, 35 ; rescinds the 
order for the General Court, 35 ; 
fortifies Boston Neck, 35 ; counter- 
proclamation disregarded, 36 ; re- 
plies to Provincial Congress resolu- 
tion, 37 ; superseded by Gen. Howe, 
38 ; refuses to recognize the Second 
Provincial Congress, 47 ; tries to 
corrupt Hancock and Adams, 50 ; 
besieged in Boston as the result of the 
battles of Lexington and Concord, 
51 ; set aside, 55. 

Gardner, Colonel : ordered to rein- 
force Col. Paterson, 58 ; ordered to 
Prospect Hill, 58 ; and Paterson 
ordered to Bunker Hill too late, 58. 

Gaspee seized and burned, 22. 

Gates, General : Col. Paterson sent 
to reinforce, 83 ; surprised at the 
celerity of Gen. Paterson, 105 ; 
letter to, 106 ; superseded by Gen. 
Schuyler, 107 ; censured for the 
fall of Ticonderoga, 1 14 ; supersedes 
Gen. Schuyler, 116 ; commands the 
right wing of the American army, 
133 ; receives a flag of truce from 
Burgoyne, 136 ; impressed with 



himself, 144 ; tries to supersede 
Washington, 145 ; ordered to Fish- 
kill, 152 : commands at West Point, 
160 ; ordered to Boston, 175. 

General Court : demands the removal 
of the soldiers, 21 ; order for, re- 
voked by Gov. Gage, 30 ; revocation 
of the order for, causes great 
dissatisfaction, 36 ; counter-procla- 
mation of the governor disregarded, 
36 ; to be held at Salem, 36 ; 
assembles on Oct. 5, 1774, 37; 
waits one day for the governor, 37 ; 
decides to remove from Boston, 
348 ; does not vote money to carry 
out its measures, 349 ; orders the 
governor to write to the governors 
of other States to arrest rebels, 372 ; 
thanks the officers and soldiers, 374; 
convenes for the fourth time, 378. 

George IH.: relation to the colonies, 
II ; accession of, 18 ; antagonistic 
to the colonies, 18 ; contemptuous 
reception of the petition against the 
tea tax, ig ; thinks Americans 
cowards, 28 ; Lenox loyal to, up to 
1774, 34; oath to, repudiated, 39; 
determines to hire troops, to send 
to Boston, 67; called "that man 
George " by the Massachusetts 
troops, 70 ; refuses to receive the 
delegation sent to ask for redress, 
90 ; statue cast into bullets, 91 ; signs 
the bill repealing all oppressive acts, 
136. 

Georgia : sends no delegates to Conti- 
nental Congress but promises to 
abide by it, 30 ; delegates vote for 
independence, 75. 

Germain, Lord : his plan for 1776, 
123; satisfied that this plan could not 
fail, 123; not correctly copied, 124, 

Gibbs, Caleb, major in 2d Mass. Regi- 
ment, in 1783, 249. 

Gladstone : opinion of America, 306 ; 
on the United States, 405. 

Goodrich, Capt. William : one of com- 
mittee to purchase blankets, 44 ; 
with Col. Paterson to prepare 
address to the Stockbridge Indians, 
44 ; permission to augment his 
company, 47 ; certifies to the 
captains in Col. Paterson's regiment, 
53 ; letter of Gen. Paterson about, 
108 ; receives a commission as cap- 
tain, in 3d Mass. Brigade, 119. 



472 



INDEX. 



Goodrich, Charles, signs a petition 
about small-pox, 315. 

Gorges, Sir Fernando : a soldier of 
fortune, 323 ; made Lord Para- 
mount of Maine, 324 ; to be 
governor, 324. 

Gorham, Nath., speaker of the House 
in Boston, 316. 

Government : provisional, formed, 35 ; 
carried on by the people without the 
governor, 53 ; carried on, by the 
common consent of the people, by 
the Provincial Congress, 55. 

Governor : calls a meeting of the legis- 
lature for Sept. 27th, 14 ; orders the 
tea to be landed, 24 ; dissolves the 
Massachusetts Assembly, 30 ; re- 
solutions sent to, by the General 
Court, 37 ; calls on citizens to pro- 
tect the courts, 342 ; sustained by 
the people of Boston, 346 ; calls the 
General Court for Oct. 18, 1786, 
347 ; advises the judges at Worcester 
to adjourn, 350. 

Governors : of colonies, appointed by 
Lords of Trade, 15 ; of Pennsylva- 
nia and Maryland hereditary, 15 ; 
of Rhode Island and Connecticut 
elected by the people, 15 ; consider 
the assertion of rights rebellion, 15 ; 
assume the royal prerogative, 15, 16 ; 
misrepresent the people, 16 ; try to 
break up colonial organization, 16 ; 
royal, hold that the people have no 
rights, 29. 

Great Barrington : court not allowed 
to sit at, 30, 345 ; precedent of 1774 
followed, 346. 

Great Britain must fire the first shot, 
51, 54- 

Greaton, Col. J., signs a petition to 
Congress, 2S2. 

Greaton, Gen., commands the 2d 
Mass. Brigade, 2go. 

Grenadiers, British, at Monmouth, 165. 

Grievances : presented to the legisla- 
ture, 348 ; public, reported, 376. 

"Grippy" Hull: Gen. Paterson's ser- 
vant, 308 ; dinner at West Point, 
309 ; runs away from Kosciusko, 
310 ; after the war lives in Stock- 
bridge, 310. 

Guards, account of, 269. 

Habeas corpus act suspended, 348. 

Hall, Mathias, ensign in Col. Paterson's 
regiment in 1776, 96. 



Hamilton, Col. : aid to Washington, 
13S ; letter of, 139. 

Hamlin, Perez, pillages Stockbridge, 
373- 

Hampshire County : included Berk- 
shire up to 1 761, 33 ; convention at 
Hatfield, definition of liberty at, 
341. 

Hancock, Belcher, ensign in Col. 
Paterson's regiment in 1776, 96. 

Hancock, John : arrest of, ordered, 29 ; 
proscribed, 50 ; and Adams not cor- 
ruptible by Gov. Gage, 50 ; elected 
president of the Continental Con- 
gress, 54 ; elected governor, 378 ; 
as governor, 3S0. 

Haskell, Captain, ordered under 
arrest, 273. 

Haskell, Major, brigade-major, 197. 

" Hated Highlands," a military 
station, 306. 

Hatfield, convention at, 337. 

Havana, expedition to, 10, 11. 

Haywood, Captain : letter to the com- 
mittee, 25 7; sent to Philadelphia, 2 5 7. 

Hazen, Brig.-Gen. Moses, signs the 
petition to Congress for Massa- 
chusetts, 282. 

Headquarters, established in the fall 
of 1780, at New Windsor, 230. 

Heath, Gen,: letter from Gen. Pater- 
son, 102 ; letter to Gen. Paterson, 
104 ; commands at Peekskill, 130 ; 
Col. in Woodford's brigade, 168 ; 
letter of, 198 ; at West Point, 1780, 
205 ; to Gen. Paterson, March 27, 
1780, 207 ; to Gen. Paterson, Feb. 5, 
1780, 210; to Gen. Paterson, 210; 
forwards Gen. Paterson's letter, 205 ; 
in 1782, 245 ; to Gen. Paterson, 
248 ; to Gen. Paterson, 251 ; to 
Gen. Paterson, 253 ; to Gen. Pater- 
son, 255 ; orders of, 267 ; to Gen. 
Paterson, 271 ; grants Gen. Pat- 
erson a furlough, 271. 

Henry, Patrick, his speech on the 
Stamp Act in 1765, 18. 

Hessian, a term of derision, 395. 

Hessians : the sending of, helped the 
idea of independence, 90 ; sent to 
Pennsylvania, 98. 

Highlands: defended, 129; of the 
Hudson reconnoitered, 160 ; no 
special locality, 162; the "hated," 
229 ; used to make feints from in 
1780, 22Q. 



INDEX. 



478 



Hitchcock, Enos, chaplain of Gen. 

Paterson's brigade, 221, 232. 
Holland, Spain, and France, money 

borrowed from, 305. 
Holmes, Rev. Stephen, marries Anne 

Paterson, 4, 411. 
Hopewell, council of war at, 162. 
Hospital, return of Col. Paterson's 

regiment from, 85. 
Hostages to be made of king's officers, 

35- 

Howe, General : succeeds Gov. Gage, 
38 ; only one of his staff survives 
his wounds, 59 ; sends the King's 
speech to Washington, 70 ; deter- 
mines to take Dorchester Heights 
but puts it ofi until too late, 71 ; 
determines to evacuate Boston, 75 ; 
receives no unconditional orders, 
lOQ ; orders of, detained, 124 ; 
receives his unconditional orders in 
August, 125 ; learns of capture of 
Ticonderoga, 125 ; at Philadelphia, 
149 ; gains nothing from taking 
Philadelphia, 149 ; in the position 
of one defeated, 151 ; finds it diffi- 
cult to provision Philadelphia, 161 ; 
letter of, ig8. 

Howe, Sir William : to come up the 
Hudson, 109 ; ordered to support 
Burgoyne, no; starts to capture 
Washington, no; to take Albany, 
122. 

Hubarton, battle of, 112. 

Hudson River : to be defended, 77 ; 
defense of, given to a secret com- 
mittee, 78 ; cuts the colonies in two, 
78 ; control of, necessary to both 
British and Americans, 79 ; forts on, 
81, 82 ; campaign for possession of, 
142 ; march to, from Valley Forge, 
162 ; Washington urges the re- 
covery of the forts on, 184 ; report 
of the committee on, 186 ; possession 
of, the object of the war, 193. 

Hull, Agrippa, Gen. Paterson's serv- 
ant, 308. 

Hutchinson, Governor : appointed, 
21 ; favors the Stamp Act, 21 ; 
asked about the judges' salaries, 22 ; 
says the colonists had not the right 
to petition the Assembly, 22 ; re- 
turns to England, 29. 

Hutts assigned in 1783, 2go. 

Hyde, Caleb : sent to Third Provincial 
Congress, 54 ; account of the sup- 



pression of the courts at Great 
Barrington, 345. 

Hyde, Clarissa, marries Josiah Lee 
Paterson, 399. 

Impressment, common, 20. 

Indemnity, change in the bill for, 
378. 

Independence : not generally wished 
for, 64 ; idea of, started by George 
1 1 1. 's proclamation, 71 ; determined 
on after surrender of Burgoyne, 
142 ; the only basis of treaty, 153. 

Independence, Declaration of : pro- 
mulgated, 91 ; made after eleven 
years of unprovoked irritation, 91 ; 
accepted last by New York, 92 ; 
never reconsidered, 92. 

Indians, Mohawk, address to, 46. 

Indians, Stockbridge ; address to, 44 ; 
enlist a full company, 45 ; speech of 
chief of, 45 ; soldiers ask to have 
their money taken care of, 46. 

Infantry, light, ordered formed, 117 ; 
how to be paid and equipped, 154. 

Ingersol, Captain, in Col. Paterson's 
regiment, 53, 

Inoculation : against small-pox, 85 ; 
introduced by Lady Mary Wortley, 
85 ; prejudice against it, 86 ; treat- 
ment for, 86. 

Insignia of royalty removed, 91. 

Insubordination result of dissatisfac- 
tion, 218. 

Insurgents marching from New York 
State, 373. 

Interest, high rates of, in 1786, 332. 

Ireland, agitation in, encouraged by 
defeat of Cornwallis, 277. 

Jackson, Col. H., Gen. Paterson's 
letter to, 253, 254. 

Jackson, Henry, Col. in 4th Massa- 
chusetts Regiment in 1783, 285. 

Jackson, Col. M., of 8th Massachu- 
setts Regiment, 232. 

Jay, Sir James, allowed to experiment 
at West Point, 2og. 

Jefferson not convinced that independ- 
ence was necessary, 65. 

Jehiel, 2d Lieut, in Col. Paterson's 

regiment in 1776, 96. 
Jenkins, Ebenezer, signs a petition 

about small-pox, 315. 
Johnson, David, ensign in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment in 1776, 96. 
Johnson, Joseph, ensign in Col. Pat- 
erson's regiment in 1776, 96. 



474 



INDEX. 



Jones, Israel, signs a petition about 
small-pox, 315. 

Jones, Paul, exploits of, 196. 

Jones, William, signs a petition about 
wolves, 317. 

Judges : salaries to be paid by the 
crown, 22 ; salaries offered to, by 
the Assembly on pain of impeach- 
ment, 23 ; not allowed to sit in 
Worcester, 35. 

Jumper, a kind of sled, 392. 

Jury-list, names of rebels removed 
from, 375. 

Kelton, Samuel, captain in Col. Pat- 
erson's regiment, 52. 

Kilborn, Samuel, marries Maria Pat- 
erson, 374. 

King, the : his officers to be held as 
hostages for political offenders, 35 ; 
his colors to be displayed at Boston 
Port, 66 ; proclamation of, read in 
camp, 70 ; delays the execution of 
the conciliatory bills, 147. 

King George : called " That man 
George," 70 ; announces that he will 
never give up the colonies, 70 ; re- 
fuses to see delegates sent to him, 
qo ; after the surrender of Cornwal- 
lis unable to pursue the war, 277. 

Kirkland, Rev. Mr., address to, for 
the Stockbridge Indians, 46. 

Knap, Moses, major in nth Massa- 
chusetts Regiment, 143. 

Knox, Maj.-Gen. H. : appeals to Con- 
gress on behalf of troops, 232 ; let- 
ter of committee to, 257 ; signs a 
petition to Congress, 282 ; letter to 
Gen. Paterson, 295. 

Kosciusko ; fortifies Bemis' Heights, 
133 ; remains here, 160 ; fortifies 
West Point, 160 ; fortifies Bemis' 

, Heights, 183 ; appointed engineer 

at West Point, 190 ; works at the 

y fortifications, 210 ; a friend of Gen. 

Paterson, 308; receives " Grippy " 

as a present, 30S. 

Lafayette : urges Congress to refuse 
to ratify the capitulation of Bur- 
goyne, 137; remains here, 160; 
sends for Washington at Mon- 
mouth, 163 ; suspicion of, 163 

Land : should be a legal tender, 334 ; 
to be free, trade to bear the burden 
of taxation, 339. 

Land grants, petition about, 253, 254. 

Laurens, on a committee to collect 



evidence about the surrender of 
Ticonderoga, 120. 

Law, all forms of, broken up in Mas- 
sachusetts, 38. 

Lawyers : power of, to be restrained, 
335 ; should be abolished, 337 ; in 
1786 excluded from the legislature, 
337- 

Leaders of discontent not wanting, 
334. 

League and Covenant, the -Solemn, 
32. 

Learned, Brig. -Gen., at council of war 
at Fort Edward, 112. 

Learned, Simeon, aide-de-camp to 
Gen. Paterson, 330. 

Leave of absence given to generals, 
292. 

Lechmere's Point, Col. Paterson's 
regiment at, 68, 69. 

Ledyard, John, witness to Major Pat- 
erson's bond, 412. 

Lee (Mass.), rebels are prevented from 
the courts in, 370. 

Lee, Elizabeth, marries John Pater- 
son, 6, 12. 

Lee, General : made prisoner by the 
British, 97 ; commences to conspire, 
98 ; makes traitorous proposals to 
Howe, 109 ; ordered to attack at 
Monmouth, but fails, 163 ; orders a 
retreat at Monmouth, 164 ; a greater 
traitor than Arnold, 166 ; treachery 
of, prolongs the war, 166 ; plans 
frustrated, 223. 

Lee, Jonathan : in Col. Paterson's 
regiment in 1776, 52; surgeon's 
mate, 96. 

Lee, R. H., to collect evidence about 
Ticonderoga, 120. 

Legal tender should be made of land, 

334- 

Legislature : to be suspended for re- 
sistance to the tea tax, 19 ; griev- 
ances presented to, 348 ; of April 
27, 1787, conservative and refuse a 
general amnesty, 378. 

Lenox : John Paterson removes to, 
13 ; history of, 13 ; set off from 
Richmond, 14 ; refuses to submit 
to the tea tax, 23 ; incorporated in 
1767, 33 ; loyal to George III. up 
to 1774, 34 ; issues no more war- 
rants in the King's name, 34 ; in- 
structs John Paterson, 36 ; asserts 
her independence, 37 ; makes pro- 



INDEX. 



475 



Lenox . — Con tin ucd. 

vision for arms, 42 ; appoints a 
committee to collect grain, 43 ; John 
Paterson moderator of a town meet- 
ing, 44 ; provides muskets, 48 ; 
votes to abide by the Provincial 
Congress, 48 ; first departure of 
armed men from, 54 ; sends Caleb 
Hyde to Third Provincial Congress, 
54 ; instructs her representatives, 
56 ; authorizes her delegates to vote 
for independence, 56 ; calls town 
meetings in the name of the people 
of Massachusetts Bay, 56 ; watches 
unfriendly persons, 56 ; sends two 
more companies after Bunker Hill, 
61 ; ministry change after the defeat 
of Cornvvallis, 277 ; minister's grant 
of lands, 312 ; for the county town, 
contest about, 313 ; fixed on as 
the county town, 313 ; court-house, 
when completed, 314 ; convention 
at, 343 ; people of, not willing to 
resort to violence, 343 ; first house 
in, 386 ; court-house, subscription 
to build, 412. 

Letter : of Gen. Paterson to Water- 
town, 62 ; of Col. Paterson to 
Provincial Congress, 68 ; of Gen. 
Paterson to President of the Coun- 
cil, 115. 

Letters and correspondence stilted, 
390. 

Levies of troops, Gen. Paterson's re- 
ceipts for, 221. 

Lexington : battle of, results from 
the order to arrest Hancock and 
Adams, 29 ; Berkshire regiment 
marches after the battle of, 42 ; and 
Concord, battles of, result in be- 
sieging Gov. Gage in Boston, 51. 

Liberty, definition of, at Hatfield 
Convention, 341. 

Liberty, sloop, seized, 20. 

Lincoln, General : cuts off Burgoyne's 
supplies, 132 ; forces Burgoyne to 
move forward, 133 ; takes command 
of right wing at Saratoga, 134 ; put 
in command of troops, 352 ; writes 
to Gen. Paterson, Jan. 22 and 23, 
1787, 352, 353; routs Luke Day at 
West Springfield, 356 ; demands 
Shays' surrender, 356 ; indorsed by 
the General Court, 357 ; refuses to 
admit Shays' claims, 357 ; marches 
on Shays at Petersham, 358 ; sends 



orders to Gen. Paterson, Jan. 28, 
1787. 358 ; order of, to Gen. Pat- 
erson about leniency, 360 ; writes 
to Gov. Bowdoin, Feb. i, 1787, 361 ; 
writes to Gen. Paterson, Feb. 1,1787, 
362 ; starts for Berkshire, 366 ; 
writes Gen. Paterson about the de- 
feat at Petersham, 366 ; writes Gen. 
Paterson from Pittsfield, Feb. 12, 
17S7. 369, 370; promises reinforce- 
ments to Gen. Paterson, Feb. 12, 
17S7, 370; petition to, to restore 
arms to a former rebel, 371 ; orders 
troops from (ien. Paterson, 372; 
mforms Gen. Paterson of the arm- 
ing at Lanesboro, 374. 

" Lister," means assessor, i. 

Lithgow, Major, wounded at Free- 
man's Farm, 133 ; a major in nth 
Massachusetts Regiment, 143. 

Littlefield, A.M., Lieut. -Col. in nth 
Massachusetts Regiment, 143. 

Littlefield, Jeremiah, 2d Lieut, in Col. 
Paterson's regiment in 1776, 96. 

Lodge, Washington, 270. 

London, servant of Major Paterson, 
II. 

Long, Col., at council of war at Ti- 
conderoga, no. 

Lord, Nathan, 2d Lieut, in Col. Pat- 
erson's regiment in 1776, 96. 

Loyalty a part of religion, 38. 

Lusk, James, marries Sarah Paterson, 
3, 410. 

Lyman, Maj.-Gen., commands colo- 
nial troops sent against Havana, 11, 
12. 

Lyon, Jacob, second lieutenant in 
Col. Paterson's regiment, asks for 
his commission, 68. 

Maine : deed of land in, 321 ; con- 
vention called for a government 
separate from Massachusetts, 322 ; 
separated from Massachusetts, 323 ; 
how it came to belong to Massachu- 
setts, 323 ; Lord Paramount of, title 
purchased by the Massachusetts 
Bay Co., 324. 

Major-generals : all ordered to organ- 
ize their forces, 350 ; of Massachu- 
setts, list of, 414. 

Mandamus councilors : decline to act, 
30 ; John Paterson a committee on, 

43- 
Manufacturers depressed after the 
war, 333. 



476 



INDEX. 



Marblehead : a port of entry, 28 ; in- 
vites Boston to use her port free, 
28. 

March, order of, on Aug. 13, 1777, 
117. 

Marie Antoinette declares the Eng- 
lish bought peace, 278 ; receives 
the news of peace, 278. 

Marque, letters of, issued by the Con- 
tinental Congress, 91. 

Marshall, T.: Col. of loth Mass. Regi- 
ment, 143 ; Col. 3d Mass. (Pater- 
son's) Brigade, 168. 

Martin, Peggy, court-martial of, 274. 

Martin, Soloman, 2d Lieut, in Col. 
Paterson's regiment in 1776, 96. 

Masonic : celebration at West Point, 
2or ; lodges, 269. 

Massachusetts : refuses to pay ;i^400 
expended by Gov. Barnard, 1 1 ; 
resists the tea tax, 19 ; sends a cir- 
cular letter to the other colonies, 
19 ; required to rescind her circular 
letter, 19 ; threatened for resistance 
to the tea tax, 19 ; no longer recog- 
nizes the King and Parliament, 29 ; 
Assembly convened for June 7th, 
30 ; forms of law in, broken up, 
38 ; number of men at Boston, 64; 
ends her proclamation with, "God 
save the people," 64 ; first to elect 
a legislature, 64 ; troops no longer 
recognize George III., 73 ; equal 
to its own defense, 73 ; troops 
ordered to New York, 75 ; troops 
in 1780-S1 winter at West Point, 
128 ; repeal of the charter of, re- 
pealed after the surrender of Bur- 
goyne, 136 ; brigades at West 
Point, 176 ; brigades comjilimented 
by Gen. Washington, 268 ; how it 
became possessed of Maine, 323 ; 
debt of, in 1786, 333 ; established 
religion of, 386. 

Massachusetts Bay Co.: charter of, 
26 ; charter of, attacked, demanded, 
declared void, 323 ; purchases 
Maine and becomes Lord Para- 
mount of Maine, 324. 

Maxwell, Lieut. -Col. IL, signs a peti- 
tion to Congress, 282. 

McCrea, Jane, report of murder of, 
swells the American ranks, 132. 

McDongall, General : signals, 81 ; 
to Gen. Paterson, Dec. 7, 1788, 
172 ; commands West Point, 160, 



175 ; puts Gen. Paterson in com- 
mand of West Point, 175 ; to 
Gen. Paterson, Dec. 21, 1778, 176 ; 
appointed to command in High- 
lands, 189 ; his orders to Col. Burr, 
197 ; letter of, 197 ; order of ar- 
rest, 247. 

McKinstry, Capt. John : joins Col. 
Paterson's regiment, 53, 55 ; asks 
for his commission, 68. 

McKinstry, Thomas, first lieutenant 
in Col. Paterson's regiment, asks 
for his commission, 68. 

Meat, want of, 272. 

Meeting-house, the centre of social 
and town life, 386. 

Mercenaries to be used, news of, 
reaches Boston, 67. 

Merrick, Pliny, signs a petition about 
wolves, 317. 

Merrill, Samuel, signs a petition about 
wolves, 317. 

Middlesex County : convention, 344 ; 
troops, order to, 351. 

Military matters. Gen. Paterson active 
in, 393- 

Military organizations regarded as 
useful, 40. 

Military play of children, 394. 

Militia : towns to choose officers of, 
35 ; not .soldiers but excellent marks- 
men, 50. 

Miller, Jeremiah, second lieutenant in 
Col. Paterson's regiment in 1776, 96. 

Ministry threaten Massachusetts for 
resistance to the tea tax, ig. 

Mismanagement at Valley Forge, 149. 

Mix, Rev. Stephen, marries James 
Paterson, i ; baptizes John, 3. 

Mohawk Indians, address to, 46. 

Mohawk Valley, to be captured by St. 
Leger, 109. 

Moncton, Colonel, at Monmouth, 164. 

Money : fiat, adopted by Congress, 
153 ; want of, brings the campaign 
of 1778 to a close, 195 ; borrowed 
from France, Spain, and Holland, 
305. 

Monmouth : councils previous to the 
battle of, 162 ; battle of, 165 ; saved 
by Steuben and Washington, 166 ; 
loss at, 166 ; victory claimed by 
both sides, 166 ; after the battle of, 
army moves to White Plains, 167 ; 
after the battle of, the British act 
on the defensive, 167. 



INDEX. 



477 



Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, in- 
troduces the process of inoculation 
for small-pox, 8=. 

Montreal, Col. Paterson arrives at, 
84. 

Monument to Gen. Paterson, unveil- 
ing of, 419. 

Moore's Creek : battle of, 71 ; effect 
of victory at, 71, gi. 

Morgan's riflemen arrive too late, 145. 

Morse, Joseph, Gen. Paterson's letter 
about, 141; major I2th Mass. Regi- 
ment, 143. 

Mortality in the army not necessary, 

153- 

Moses Creek Camp, Gen. Paterson at, 
116. 

Mothksin, J., chief of Stockbridge 
Indians, 44. 

Mount Independence fortified by Gen. 
Paterson, 92. 

Music cultivated in New England 
towns, 216. 

Muster, the annual, 394. 

Mutiny in Philadelphia, 296. 

Navy wanting to Americans, 196. 

Nelson's Point, Gen. Paterson's bri- 
gade at, igg. 

New Britain : John Paterson (ist) 
born in, i ; formerly part of 
Farmington, i. 

Newburgh letters, 292 ; Washington 
assailed in, 293. 

Newell, Samuel, witness to Major 
Paterson's will, 411. 

New Hampshire : number of men at 
Boston, 64 ; legislature surrounded, 
347- 

Newington : annexed to Farmington, 
2 ; John Paterson (ist) lived in, 2. 

New Providence, John Paterson a 
committee on, 48. 

News that mercenaries are to be used 
reaches Boston, 67. 

New Windsor, chain made at, 19 r. 

New York City : withdraws from 
non-importation, 22 ; letter de- 
nounced, 22 ; tea ships sent to, 23 ; 
Massachusetts troops ordered to, 
71 ; taken by the British, 79. 

New York Harbor : controlled by 
British, 78 ; frozen over in the 
winter of 1779-80, 242. 

New York State : accepts the Declara- 
tion of Independence last, 91 ; nec- 
essary to the British, 109 ; in 1777, 



number of inhabitants, 171,000, 
123 ; a.sked to select the place on 
the Hudson to fortify, 160 ; legis- 
lature. Gen. Paterson in, 396. 

Nixon, Brig -Gen., at council of war 
at Fort Edward, 112. 

Noble, David, captain in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment in 1776, 52, 96. 

Noble, Townsend & Co. contract for 
the chain at West Point, 187. 

Non - importation agreement, New 
York withdraws from, 22. 

Northampton, prevention of the ses- 
sion of the courts at, 342. 

North Carolina : instructs her dele- 
gates to vote for independence, 76 ; 
takes the first aggressive step. 91 ; 
organizes a Provincial Congress, 91. 

Note, holder of, not to be paid full 
value of, unless it was issued to 
him, 338. 

Oath to George III. repudiated, 39. 

Obstruction : at Fort Montgomery, 
82 ; at Fort Washington, 82 ; at 
PoUopel's Island, 82 ; at West 
Point, 82 ; at West Point, weight 
of, 126 ; at West Point, construction 
of, 190 ; of the Hudson, 193 ; of 
the Hudson, results of, 193. 

Officers : knew little of military or- 
ganization, 64; rank fixed, 200; 
half pay, amount of commutation, 
338 ; half pay a grievance, 338 

Ohio lands, correspondence concern- 
ing, 454-462. 

Ohio scheme alluded to in petition to 
Congress, 291, 45 8. 

Orders : to march to New York, 74 ; 
for Canada, 83 ; at Valley Forge, 
150; for August, 17S1, 243; to 
move south, 244. 

Organizations of colonies for confer- 
ence not liked by the governor, 16. 

Osborne, Sally, marries John Pierce 
Paterson, 401. 

Otis, James : assaulted by the sol- 
diers, 21 ; in the battle of Bunker 
Hill, 59- 

Paper money : based on nothing, 14S ; 
holders of, did not present it in 
17S0, 229 ; irredeemable, recom- 
mended, 342. 

Pardon : of rioters considered as a 
justification, 337 ; asked by twenty 
towns, 368 ; to rebels, commission 
to grant, 376 ; of rebels, 379. 



478 



INDEX. 



Parker, Enos, ensign in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, 52. 

Parliament : acts of, burned by the 
hangman, 29 ; repeals all oppressive 
acts after the surrender of Bur- 
goyne, 136 ; gives power to com- 
missioners to suspend any act, 136 ; 
commissioners come too late, 142 ; 
hopes something from the dissatis- 
faction of the Puritans, 147 ; bills 
of, burned under the gallows, 148. 

Parmenter, Gen. Shepard sent to Ver- 
mont to arrest, 371. 

Parsons, Eli : heads four hundred in- 
surgents, 352 ; issues a manifesto, 
370 ; not to be pardoned, 376 ; asks 
for pardon and is prohibited from 
holding any office, 380. 

Parsons, Isaac, signs a petition about 
wolves, 3r7. 

Paterson, Ann, marries Rev. Stephen 
Holmes, 411. 

Paterson, Betsey, 401. 

Paterson, Elizabeth : a remarkable 
woman, 12, 402 ; died, 13, 402. 

Paterson families, 409 ; origin of, i, 

451- 

Paterson family settled in Wethers- 
field, I. 

Paterson, Hannah, 399. 

Paterson, James : married Mary Tal- 
cott, I ; assessor of Wethersfield, 

I ; selectman, i. 

Paterson, John (ist) : born in Wethers- 
field, I ; lived in Newington, 2 ; re- 
moved to Farmington, 2 ; always 
called Mr., 2 ; married Ruth Bird, 
3 ; on " the prudential committee," 
5 ; gives bonds for the New London 
Society, 6 ; care of the Acadians, 6 ; 
made deacon, 9 ; a slave owner, 9 ; 
agent for New Britain, 9; enlisted 
as a private, g ; ensign, 9 ; lieuten- 
ant, 9 ; captain, 9 ; major, 9 ; jus- 
tice of the peace and quorum, 10 ; 
commission as colonel not found, 
10 ; goes as captain and paymaster 
to Havana, 10; dies in Havana, 

II ; will of, 410 ; his bond as pay- 
master, 411. 

Paterson, John : born in Newing- 
ton, 6, II ; graduated at Yale Col- 
lege, II ; teaches school, 12; lives 
in New Britain, 12 ; marries Eliza- 
beth Lee, 12 ; removes to Lenox, 
13 ; chosen Clerk of the Propriety 



of Lenox, 13 ; last Clerk of the 
Propriety, 14 ; a loyal subject, 25 ; 
sent to the Berkshire Convention, 2g, 
■32 ; sent to Salem, 36 ; instructions 
to, by Lenox, 36 ; representative at 
the General Court of 1774, 40 ; one 
of a committee to collect grain and 
ammunition, 40 ; appointed to ex- 
amine the stores of the commissary 
general's department, 41 ; raises a 
regiment, 41 ; commissioned as colo- 
nel, 42 ; advises preparation for 
war, 42 ; elected to the Second 
Provincial Congress, 43 ; sent to 
Cambridge, 43 ; chairman of com- 
mittee on mandamus councilors, 
43 ; on committee to revise the 
commission of Committee of Safety 
and Supplies, 43 ; on committee to 
inquire into state of the militia, 43 ; 
to collect the sentiments of the peo- 
ple of Quebec, 43 ; appointed to 
bring in a resolution relative to the 
adjournment of the Second Provin- 
cial Congress, 44 ; chosen modera- 
tor of Lenox town meeting, 44 ; 
selectman, assessor, and collector of 
school tax of Lenox, 44 ; appointed 
to draft an address to the Stock- 
bridge Indians, 44 ; on a committee 
to address the Mohawk Indians, 46; 
to advise about Capt. Goodridge's 
company, 48 ; to advise the Com- 
mittee of Safety and Supplies, 48 ; 
always consulted about military 
affairs, 48 ; on committee on the 
affairs of New Providence, 48 ; a 
committee to give a certificate to E. 
Bradish, 48 ; on a committee to de- 
termine about the assumption of the 
government, 48 ; ancestors fled 
from tyranny in Scotland, 48 ; ex- 
plains the condition of affairs to his 
constituents, 48 ; a leader of men, 
49 ; starts for Lenox immediately 
after the battles of Lexington and 
Concord, 51 ; his regiment made 
part of the Continental Army, 51 ; 
regiment of, in 1775, S- I return 
of his regiment for May, 1775, 52 ; 
certificate to Provincial Congress, 
53 ; member of many committees 
in First and Second Provincial Con- 
gresses, 53 ; arms delivered to, 54 ; 
his regiment to be paid, 55 ; his 
regiment serve as minute-men, 57 ; 



INDEX. 



479 



Patekson, John. — Continued. 

his regiment transferred to Conti- 
nental service, 57 ; his regiment re- 
enlist for eight months, 57 : his 
regiment become the 15th Foot, 
57 ; his regiment build Fort No. 3, 
57 ; defends Fort No. 3, 57 ; or- 
dered by Washington to remain at 
Fort No. 3, 58 ; ordered to defend 
Prospect Hill, 58 ; and Gardner or- 
dered to Bunker Hill too late, 58 ; 
in the afternoon of Bunker Hill, 
59 ; ordered to defend Cambridge, 
59 ; petitions Third Provincial Con- 
gress for supplies, 61 ; wishes his 
guns repaired, 62 ; receives arms 
from the Committee of Safety, 62 ; 
presides at a court-martial, 62,69,71 ; 
certifies the petition of his officers, 
67 ; position of his regiment, 67 ; at 
Lechmere's Point, 68, 69 ; his regi- 
ment with Ward's and Putnam's 
called "the flower of the Continen- 
tal Army," 70; refills his regiment. 
70 ; his regiment goes into barracks 
at Prospect Hill, 70 ; dislodges the 
British in Charlestown, 71 ; shows 
bravery in putting out a fire, 73 ; 
regiment starts for New York, 73 ; 
stationed on Staten Island, 75 ; sent 
to Canada, 82 ; sails for Canada, 
83 ; arrives in Canada too late ex- 
cept to participate in the suffering 
of the troops, 83 ; did not take 
small-pox, 84 ; his regiment to be 
inoculated at Montreal, 84 ; retreats 
from Canada, 84 ; at Sorel with 
only six men fit for duty, 87 ; at 
the battle of the Cedars, 87 ; recom- 
mended for promotion, 90 ; forti- 
fies Mount Independence, 92 ; first 
in the 2d and then in the 3d Bri- 
gade, 92 ; ordered to Fort George, 
93 ; leaves Lake George, 93 ; or- 
dered to Stillwater, 93 ; doing 
duty of a general, 93 ; brigades 
ordered to go to him for orders, 
93 ; sent to reinforce Washington, 
93 ; joins Washington, 94 ; losses 
of his regiment, 94 ; leaves Sara- 
toga for Albany, 94 ; his regiment 
in 1776, 96 ; crosses the Delaware 
with Washington, 98 ; at Trenton, 
98 ; at Princeton, 99, 100 ; his chap- 
lain's account of the battle of Tren- 
ton, 100 ; successful in enlisting, 



loi ; transferred to another regi- 
ment, 102 ; made brigadier-general, 
102 ; letter to Gen. Heath, 102 ; 
letter to Gen. Ward, 103 ; letter 
from Gen. Heath, 104 ; goes to 
Ticonderoga, 105 ; his regiment 
poorly supplied, 105 ; letter to 
president of the council, 105 ; for- 
tifies Fort Independence, 105 ; 
writes on behalf of Capt. Good- 
rich, 108 ; at councils of war at 
Ticonderoga, iii, 112; brig-gen., 
at council of war at Fort Edward, 
112; at Moses Creek camp, 116; 
ordered to headquarters, 117 ; not 
criminated by the surrender of Ti- 
conderoga, 121 ; at Fort Montgom- 
ery, 127 ; in the right wing, 133 ; 
at Stillwater, 133; at Bemis' Heights, 

135 ; frustrates the plans of Bur- 
goyne, 135 ; after the second battle 
of Bemis' Heights. 136 ; acts brave- 
ly at the surrender of Burgoyne, 

136 ; after the surrender of Bur- 
goyne, 140 ; letter to General 
Washington, 140 ; his brigade small, 
141 ; letter about Joseph Morse, 
141 ; Whitemarsh, 141 ; at Valley 
Forge, 144, 146 ; undertakes forti- 
fications of left wing at Valley 
Forge, 146 ; orders all absentees to 
return, 149 ; on a court-martial, 
152 ; to administer the oath to offi- 
cers, 160 ; at the Monmouth coun- 
cil, 162 ; at Monmouth, 164, 165 ; 
after Monmouth, 167 ; to select 
his colors, 16S ; brigade, 16S ; or- 
ders for Sept., Oct., Nov., and 
Dec, 1778, 170, 171; letter of 
Gen. McDougall to, 172 ; writes 
to Gen. McDougall, Dec. 8, 1778, 
174; commands at West Point in 

1778, 175 ; put in command of 
West Point by wish of all the 
generals. 176 ; why appointed to 
West Point, 176; letter to Gen. 
McDougall, Dec. 29, 1778. 178; 
letter to Gen. McDougall, Jan. 5, 

1779, 179 ; leaves chain at West 
Point to Gen. Putnam, 189; and 
others petition Congress in 1779, 
197 ; at Nelson's Point in 1779, 
199 ; his men work on the batteries, 
199 ; on a board for ranking offi- 
cers, 200 ; his brigade ordered to 
the Point, 201 ; master of Wash- 



480 



IXDEX. 



Paterson, John. — Continued. 

ington Lodge, 201 ; applies to pur- 
chase clothing, 202 ; writes to the 
Board of War, 202 ; commands 
West Point, 203 ; writes to Gen. 
Heath, 205, 206 ; at a fire in 
West Point, 207 ; to Gen. Heath, 
Jan. 27, 1780, 208 ; to Gen. Heath, 
Feb. I, 1780, 208 ; to Gen. Heath, 
Feb. 5, 1780, 209 ; to Gen. Heath, 
Feb. 6, 1780, 211 ; receives 
money from Massachusetts, 213 ; 
stationed at West Point, 213 ; to 
Gen. Heath, March 31, 17S1, 214; 
to Gen. Heath, .May 7, 1781, 217, 
21S; begs a loan of arms, 219 ; to 
Hon. J. Powell. 220 ; letter to 
Massachusetts, 220, 221 ; erects a 
block-house at Dobb's Ferry, 221 ; 
letter to Baron Steuben, 222 ; on 
Arnold's court-martial, 222 ; says 
that the country is not supporting 
army, 223 ; the youngest brigadier 
in the American army, 225 ; to 
Gen. Heath, Oct. 23, 1780, 226; 
certifies to Col. Varick's character, 
227 ; at West Point in 1780, 228, 
229 ; put in 2d Massachusetts Bri- 
gade, 232 : three months' pay voted 
him, 232 ; receives money, 232 ; 
ordered to keep the water-guards in 
readiness, 233 ; ordered by Wash- 
ington to be ready for an attack, 
233 ; replies to Washington's order, 
242 ; in Gen. Lincoln's brigade, 
242 ; left on the Hudson by VVash- 
ington, 245 ; to Gen. Heath, 
245, 249, 252, 254, 255, 260-4, 
266, 267 ; letter to Col. Jack- 
son, 267 ; on the McDougall court- 
piartial, 269 ; his brigade compli- 
mented by Washington, 269 ; asks 
for a service chevron, 269 ; asks 
for a furlough, 270 ; to Gen. Heath, 
270-2 ; in Gen. Heath's bri- 
gade in Gen. Howe's division, 
273; appointed 'to the ist Mass. 
Brigade, 279 ; to Col. Putnam, 279; 
signs an appeal to Congress for relief 
for the army, 2S2 ; ordered to West 
Point, in 1783, 282 ; letter to Gen. 
Knox at West Point, 2S2 ; takes 
command of the ist .Mass. Brigade, 
290 : ordered to Philadelphia, 296 ; 
president of a court-martial at 
Philadelphia, 299 ; commands West 



Point, 299 ; commissioned as ma- 
jor-general in the Continental 
Army, 304 ; one of the last to leave 
the army, 304 ; his rank, 306 ; one 
of the youngest brigadier-generals, 
306 ; reasons v\hy he was appointed, 
306 ; his extraordinary amount of 
service, 307 ; presents " Grippy" to 
Kosciusko, 308 ; president and vice- 
president of Massachusetts Society 
of the Cincinnati, 311 ; purchases 
land in Lenox, 312; subscribes to 
the Town House, 313 ; delegate 
from Lenox to a county convention, 
313 ; resumes his profession as a 
lawyer, 313, 384; signs a petition 
about small-pox, 315 ; signs a peti- 
tion about wolves, 317 ; commis- 
sioned as major-general of Massa- 
chusetts, 317 ; interest in lands in 
Maine, 320, 321 ; commands the 
Berkshire militia, 330 ; staff of, in 
Shays' Rebellion, 330 ; in Lenox 
convention, 343 ; orders out the 
military in Shays' Rebellion, 345 ; 
receives orders from Gen. Lincoln, 
Jan. 28, 1787, 358; informs Gen. 
Lincoln of his situation and asks 
help, Jan. 29. 17S7, 359 ; asks help 
of Gen. Lincoln, Jan. 31, 1787, 
359, 360 ; raises men to defend 
Berkshire County, 363 ; informs 
Gen. Lincoln of the situation in 
Berkshire, Feb. 5, 17S7, first letter, 
364 ; duplicate letter, 365 ; could 
not rely on the militia, 367 ; dis- 
perses the rebels from Adams and 
Williamstown, 368 ; writes to Gen. 
Lincoln from Sheffield, Feb. 10, 
1787. 369 ; his part in Shays' Rebel- 
lion, 379 ; action after Shays' Re- 
bellion, 383 ; as a business man 
and a lawyer, 384 ; marriage of his 
eldest daughter and of his eldest 
son, 384 ; active in military matters 
in Lenox, 393 ; his children, 395, 
399 ; in New ^'ork Legislature, 396 ; 
offices held in New York, 396 ; in 
Congress, 397 ; chief-justice of 
Broome County, 397 ; his charac- 
ter, 39S, 402, 404, 407 ; his death, 
402 ; his wife's remains removed 
to Lenox, 402 ; as a lawyer and 
legislator, 405 ; record of, why lost, 
406 ; defense of, 414 ; diary of, 
415 ; unveiling the monument to. 



INDEX. 



481 



Paterson, John. — Continued. 

419 ; monument, inscription on, 
446. 

Maps showing his position : at 
Boston, Map I., 57 ; at Trenton, 
Map II., 98; at Princeton, Map 
III., 100 ; First Battle of Bemis' 
Heights, Map IV., 133 ; Second 
Battle of Bemis' Heights, Map 
v., 135; Surrender of'Burgoyne, 
Map VI., 136; Valley Forge, Map 
VII., 144 ; Monmouth, Map VIII., 
164 ; The Highlands, Map IX., 175. 

Paterson, John Pierce, 401. 

Paterson, Joseph (Gen.), lived in 
Lenox, 13. 

Paterson, Josiah Lee, 399. 

Paterson, Maria, 401. 

Paterson, Mary, daughter of John 
(Major), 3 ; marries John Pierce, 
410. 

Paterson, Mrs., 12, 402. 

Paterson, Polly, 400. 

Paterson, Ruth : marries Jedediah 
Strong, 5 ; sister of John, 12 ; 
daughter of Major Paterson, 411. 

Paterson, Ruth, daughter of Gen. Pat- 
erson, 401. 

Paterson, Ruth (Bird) ; wife of Major 
Paterson, 3. 

Paterson, Sarah, marries James Lusk, 
3, 410. 

Paterson, T. J. (Hon.), letter from, 403. 

Paterson, VVilliam : founder of the 
Bank of England, i ; on Darien, i ; 
opinion on Sandwich Islands, I. 

Patriotism only kept the soldiers from 
deserting, 67-68. 

Patterson, W. A., Lieut, in Col. 
Paterson's regiment in 1776, 96. 

Pay, commutation of, a grievance, 336. 

Paymaster, how to be nominated, 157. 

Peace Commissioners of the British, 
not listened to, 142. 

Peace : Congress to dictate terms of, 
147 ; news of, how received by the 
different parties engaged, 278 ; 
preliminary treaty of, at New- 
burgh, 288 ; treaty of, 300 ; not 
joyfully looked forward to by 
many, 302. 

Peekskill, army at, 221. 

Peirce, Ebenezer, signs a petition 
about small-pox, 315. 

Peirce, John, marries Mary Paterson, 
3. 410. 



Pennoyer, John, second lieutenant in 
Col. Paterson's regiment, asks for 
his commission, 67, 96. 

Pennsylvania : governors of, heredi- 
tary, 15 ; governor of, offers a re- 
ward for the arrest of rebels, 375. 

People, opinions of, declared in Con- 
gress and conventions, 39. 

Petersham ; Gen. Lincoln's march to, 
358 ; Shays retreats to, 361 ; defeat 
at, broke the rebellion, 363 ; defeat 
at, described by Gen. Lincoln, 366. 

Petition of officers to Congress in 
1782,253,458. 

Pettingill, Joseph, major in ist Mass. 
Regiment in 1783, 2S5. 

Phelan, Lieut., aide-de-camp to Gen. 
Paterson in 1783, 285, 290. 

Philadelphia : tea ships sent to, 23 ; 
urges Boston not to submit, 23 ; 
sends the tea back, 24 ; Continental 
Congress at, 35, 92 ; Continental 
Congress an advisory body, 54 ; of 
no use to Gen. Howe, 149, 151 ; 
evacuation of, by the British, 
152 ; evacuation of, equivalent to a 
victory, 152 ; attack on, decided 
against, 160 ; occupied by Arnold, 
162 ; riots in, 294-296 ; mutiny in 
296. 

Phillips, Gen. : occupies Fort Defiance, 
no; prisoner of war, on Prospect 
Hill, 137. 

Phillips, Samuel, president of the 
senate, 316, 317. 

Pierce, John : marries Mary Paterson, 
3 ; Paymaster-General, 3. 

Pierce, Sarah, establishes Litchfield 
Academy, 3. 

Pitcher, Molly, 129 ; at Monmouth, 
165. 

Pitkin, Timothy, witness to Major Pat- 
erson's will, 411. 

Pixley, David, Lieut, in Col. Paterson's 
regiment, 52 ; deeds lands to Gen. 
Paterson, 312. 

Plans for the summer campaign of 
1778, 160. 

Pocock, Admiral : sent to Martinique, 
10 ; commands the expedition 
against Havana, 10. 

PoUopel's Island, obstruction at, 82, 
90, 129. 

Poor, Brig.-Gen., at council of war at 
Fort Edward. 112, 113 ; ordered to 
headquarters, 117. 



482 



INDEX. 



Poor, Col., at Trenton, 99. 

Porter, Amos, second lieutenant in 
Col. Paterson's regiment, asks for 
his commission, 68. 

Porter, Captain, joins Col. Paterson's 
regiment, 55. 

Portland : burned, 67, go ; French rein- 
forcements land at, 152. 

Ports : American, opened by Congress, 
gi ; of the colonies to he closed, 94. 

Post riders, distance to ride, 80. 

Powder-house in Lenox made into a 
receiving vault, 313. 

Powell, J., Gen. Paterson to, 220. 

Powers, Nathan, ensign in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, 52. 

Pratt, Captain, in Col. Paterson's regi- 
ment, 53. 

President of council. Gen. Paterson's 
letter to, 105, 106. 

Prestige, British, Burgoyne to do some- 
thing to regam, after the battle of 
Bennington, 118, iig. 

Priest, Job, ensign in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment in 1776, 96. 

Princeton, advance on, 99. 

Problems to be solved at Valley Forge, 
144. 

Prospect Hill : fortified by Paterson's 
regiment, 57 ; Col. Paterson goes 
into barracks on, 71. 

Provincial Congress : organized, 37 ; 
guilty of treason, 37 ; Gov. Gage's 
reply to, 37 ; supported by the 
towns, 41 ; the First, why dissolved, 
42 ; the Second, called to assemble 
at Cambridge, 43 ; the Second, 
John Paterson to bring in a resolu- 
tion relative to adjournment, 44 ; 
the Second, assumes the govern- 
ment, 48 ; delegates to the Second, 
summoned to return, 50; the 
Second, adjourns, 51 ; the Third, 
meets at Watertown, 54 ; surrenders 
its powers to the Continental Con- 
gress, 55 ; how to be considered, 
56 ; the Third, petitioned by Col. 
Paterson for supplies, 61 ; neglects 
to send commissions, 67. 

Provost, how to be paid and equipped, 
156. 

Prudential committee. Major Paterson 
a member of, 6. 

Public opinion known through town 
meetings and county conventions, 
39- 



Pulaski remains in America, 160. 

Puritans: hated by Charles II., 26; 
dislike the treaty between France 
and the United States, [46. 

Putnam, Colonel, of the 5th Massa- 
chusetts Regiment, 232. 

Putnam, Maj.-Gen.: command of, 67 ; 
writes to Washington, 138 ; in com- 
mand of defenses at West Point, 
185 ; letter to Washington about 
the chain, 188; censured for want 
of care of chain at West Point, i8g ; 
to Gen. Washington, concerning 
Ohio lands, June 5 and 16, 1783, 
454-461. 

Quartermaster Department, ineffi- 
ciency of, at Valley Forge, 145. 

Quartermaster of a regiment, how to 
be nominated, 157. 

Quebec, John Paterson to collect the 
sentiments of the people of, 43. 

Quincy, Josiah, defends the soldiers 
in Boston, 21. 

Quorum, name of justice of the 
peace, 10. 

Radiere, Col., resigns, 190. 

Rations of general officers, how drawn, 
283. 

Read, Seth, Lieut.'-Col. in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, 1776, 52, 96. 

Rebellion : declaration of, 362 ; over, 
grievances were adjusted, 383. 

Rebels ; removed from the jury-list, 
375 ; convicted, 376 ; seek aid in 
Canada, 377 ; reprieved and par- 
doned, 377 ; go to the polls, 377 ; 
pardon of, 379. 

Redcoat, a term of contempt, 395. 

Redress only wished by the colonists, 

Regiments : how brigaded in 1776, 
76; of Col. Paterson, how organized, 

96-. 

Religion, the established, of Massa- 
chusetts, 3S6. 

Religious intolerance, 385. 

Reports, false, circulated by the British, 

195. 
Rescinders, the, 20. 
Resignations of officers in 1780, 214. 
Resolutions sent to the governor by 

the General Court, 37. 
Revere gives the signal for resistance, 

54- 
Revolution : put an end to aristocracy 
in America, 15 ; demand for, not 



INDEX. 



483 



Revolution. — Continued. 

unanimous, 38 ; an act of an over- 
whelming majority, 38 ; first seed of, 
39 ; considered by some a mistake, 
56 ; declared to be the intrigue of 
a few, 92 ; soldiers of, not always 
in uniform, 112, 113 ; advised by 
the rioters, 348. 

Rhode Island : governors of, heredi- 
tary, 15 ; refused to arrest the 
burners of the Gaspee, 22 ; renounces 
allegiance to the King, 60 ; number 
of men at Boston, 64. 

Rice, Nathan, major in 4th Mass. 
Regiment in 1783, 285. 

Richmond, Duke of : a friend of 
America, 147 ; introduces a bill for 
the withdrawal of all forces, 147. 

Richmont (Richmond), Lenox set off 
from, 14. 

Riesdel, Gen., does not surrender his 
flags, 136 ; orders his flags packed in 
mattresses, 136 ; barracks of, were 
on Prospect Hill, 137. 

Rights, assertion of, considered rebel- 
lious by the governors, 15. 

Rioters : in Shays' Rebellion sympa- 
thized with, 335 ; pardon of, 
considered a justification, 337 ; 
emboldened by the notice taken of 
them, 342 ; advise revolution, 348 ; 
ascribe the acts of the General 
Court to fear of them, 349 ; had 
always had sympathy, 381. 

Rochambeau confers with Washing- 
ton in 1781, 401. 

Rockwell, Lieut. -Gov., his centennial 
address, 402-405. 

Ross, Betsey, makes the first flag, 107. 

Root, Gen. Erastus, goes to Washing- 
ton with Gen. Paterson, 398. 

Royal commission, no one would 
serve on it, 50. 

Royal prerogative assumed by the gov- 
ernors, 15, 16. 

Royalty, insignia of, destroyed, 91. 

Sabbalh. observance of, 386. 

Sabin, Zebediah, Lieut, in Col. Pat- 
erson's regiment, 52. 

Salem, General Court to be held in, 
36. 

Sampson, Deborah, earns a pension, 

237. 
Sandwich Islands, William Paterson 

on, 1. 
Sanger, Jed., second lieutenant in 



Col. Paterson's regiment, asks for 
his commission, 68. 

Saratoga, surrender of, battles result- 
ing in, how named, 135. 

Sargent, Erastus : signs a petition 
about small-pox, 315 ; surgeon-gen- 
eral to Gen. Paterson, 330. 

Sawyer, ensign, dispute of rank, 
276. 

Sayer, Samuel, captain in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment in 1776, 96. 

Schuyler, Major-General : sends rein- 
forcements to Washington, 93 ; su- 
perseded by Gen. Gates, 106-109, 
116 ; at council of war at Fort Ed- 
ward, 112-114; ordered to head- 
quarters, 117. 

Sea controlled by British, 78. 

Seamen, American, to be impressed, 
91. 

Search-warrants resisted. 18. 

Second Massachusetts Brigade, how 
constituted in 1781, 232. 

Secret committee to defend the Hud- 
son, 78. 

Sedgwick, T., aide-de-camp to Gen. 
Paterson, 330. 

Sermons, of what kind, 388. 

Settlers of Berkshire County, charac- 
ter of, 14. 

Seymour, Ira, marries Ruth Paterson, 
401. 

Sewel, diary of, igS. 

Shallock, Sergt., pardon asked for, 
217. 

Shaw, B., Lieut, in 3d Massachusetts 
Brigade, 143. 

Shaw, Lieut., appointment of, 214. 

Shays, Daniel : heads the insurgents 
at Northampton, 342 ; his charac- 
ter, 347 ; sends a letter advising the 
arming of the towns, 348 ; goes to 
Rutland, 349, 351 ; collects one 
thousand men, 351 ; promises to ac- 
cept pardon, 351 ; takes possession 
of the court-house at Springfield, 
351 ; asks Day to co-operate with 
him, 354 ; attacks Gen. .Shepard at 
Springfield and is routed, 355 ; his 
attack on Springfield might have 
been successful but for his want of 
knowledge, 355 ; ordered to surren- 
der by Gen. Lincoln, 356; sends a 
petition to the General Court which 
is a threat, and is not received, 357 ; 
goes to Petersham, 357 ; not to be 



484 



INDEX. 



Shays, Daniel. — Conthiticd. 

pardoned, 376 ; begs pardon and 
is prohibited from holding any 
office, 380. 

Shays' Rebellion, 331 ; causes of , 331 ; 
danger from, 381 ; did not originate 
in dissatisfaction with the govern- 
ment, 381 ; the means of cementing 
the Union, 382. 

Sheffield : was in Hampshire County 
up to 1761, 33; small-pox hospital 
at, 86 ; attack on, 373. 

Shepard, General : ordered to take 
possession of Springfield, 352 ; in- 
tercepts Day's letter to Shays, 344 ; 
attacks Shays and routs him, 355. 

Ships and cargoes, American, to be 
confiscated, gi. 

Shoes, perishing for want of transpor- 
tation of, at Valley Forge, 145. 

Shurtlieff, Robt., assumed name of 
Deborah Sampson, 236. 

Signals: alarm, how given, 73; can- 
non used for, 79 ; beacons used for, 
79 ; along Hudson River, 79 ; flags 
used for, 80 ; Washington's plan for, 
80; of Lord Sterling, 81 ; of Mc- 
Dougall, 81. 

Skinner, Thompson Joseph, interest 
in lands in Maine, 321. 

Sloan, Samuel, captain in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, 96. 

Sloop Liber Iv seized, 20. 

Smalley, Dr. : friend of Gen. Pater- 
son, 12 ; marries Gen. Paterson, 
12. 

Small -pox: ravages the American 
army, 85 ; inoculation against, 85 ; 
petition about inoculation, 315. 

Smith, Ebenezer, witness to Major 
Paterson's will, 411. 

Smith, Hezekiah : reports after Ti- 
conderoga, 114; letter of, 115. 

Smith, Simeon, Lieut, in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, 52. 

Social life, 390. 

Soldiers: British, scandalize the peo- 
ple, 21 ; coijld not always get re- 
dress, 67, 68 ; of Burgoyne, removed 
to Virginia, 138 ; of Burgoyne, re- 
moved from Boston to Rutland, 138; 
determined but not always uni- 
formed, 154; of the Revolution 
without display, 154. 

Solemn League and Covenant, 32. 

Sons of Liberty : formed to resist the 



Stamp Act, 19; propose a Conti- 
nental Congress, 30. 

Sorel River, chain at, 126. 

Sorel, troops from, to be sent to Mon- 
treal, 86. 

Spain and France : give money for 
the war, 305 ; and Holland, money 
borrowed from, 305. 

Spain declares war against England, 
196. 

Specific supplies depended on in 1780, 
205. 

Springfield : session of the courts pre- 
vented at, 342, 347, 350; arsenal to 
be attacked, 347 ; court-house taken 
possession of by Shays, 351. 

Sprout, Colonel, of the 2d Massachu- 
setts Regiment, 232. 

St. Clair, General : at Princeton, 99 ; 
at council of war at Fort Edward, 
1 1 2-1 14; censured for the fall of 
Ticonderoga, 114 ; ordered to new 
headquarters, 116. 

St. John's : surrenders to the Ameri- 
cans, 92 ; surrenders to the British, 
92. 

St. Leger : to come down the Mohawk 
valley, ioq ; and Burgoyne receive 
unconditional orders, 109 ; defeated, 
109; Burgoyne to help, 118; or- 
dered to take Fort Stanwix, 122. 

Staff officers, absent Dec. 21, 1782, 
283 ; absent in 1783, 286. 

Stamp Act, 18; passed in 1765, 18; 
defied in Virginia first, 18 ; how 
received, 18 ; general congress called 
to protest against, 18 ; Patrick 
Henry on, 18 ; resisted by Sons of 
Liberty, 19 ; repealed, joy about, 

Standing army : a large one not possi- 
ble, 149 ; disliked, 149. 

Stark, Colonel, at Bennington, I18. 

.State debt shown to be reasonable, 
349- 

States, the, their part of the debt, 
305. 

-Statesmen formed by public assem- 
blies, 40. 

Statue of King George melted down, 

-, 9I-. 

Sterling, Lord : signals of. So ; at 

Princeton, 99 ; letter of. 266. 
Steuben, Baron : at Valley Forge. 
146 ; turns Valley Forge into a mili- 
tary school, 146 ; tactics of, 149 ; 



INDEX. 



485 



Steuben, Baron. — Continued. 

prepares a book on tactics, 149 ; re- 
forms the men at Monmouth, 164 ; 
letter from Gen. Paterson, 222. 

Stevens, Samuel, ensign in Col. Pat- 
erson's regiment, y6. 

Stillwater: Col. Paterson ordered to, 
93 ; American army intrenched at, 
132. 

Stinson, John, signs a petition about 
wolves, 317. 

Stockbridge : convention at, 32 ; pil- 
laged by Perez Hamlin, 373. 

Stockbridge Indians : John Paterson 
to draft an address to, 44 ; address 
to, 44 ; enlist a full company, 45 ; 
speech of chief of, 45 ; ask to have 
their money taken care of, 46. 

Stockings, perishing for want of trans- 
portation of, at Valley Forge, 145. 

Stoddard, Orange, Lieut., in Col. 
Paterson's regiment, 52. 

Stony Point stormed, igg. 

Strong, Captain, in Col. Paterson's 
regiment, 53. 

Strong, Jedediah, marries Ruth Pater- 
son, 5. 

Suffolk County convention, 35. 

Sugar, value of, in 1780, 229. 

Suits, civil, number of, 336. 

Sullivan, Ebenezer, captain in Col. 
Paterson's regiment in 1776, 96. 

Supplies, prices of, in 1780 in Boston, 
229. 

Surrender : of Burgoyne, Congress re- 
fuses to ratify part of it, 137 ; of 
Cornwallis, 277. 

Talcott, Joseph, governor of Connec- 
ticut colony, I. 

Talcott, Mary, widow of Samuel, i. 

Talcott, Samuel : first husband of 
Mrs. James Paterson, i ; cousin of 
Mary Talcott, i. 

Taunton, courts prevented from sit- 
ting in, 344. 

Tax : on tea in 1767, 19 ; to support 
the established religion, 386, 387. 

Taxation : without consent refused, 
17 ; by the lords, 18 ; without rep- 
resentation refused, 18 ; without 
representation resisted in Berkshire 
County, 28. 

Taxes : refused to the governor's 
treasurer, 35 ; oppressive in 1786, 
332 ; made payable in specific arti- 
cles, 349. 



Taxing the colonies renounced by 
Parliament, 136. 

Taylor, Daniel, signs a petition about 
small-pox, 315. 

Tea : tax on, in 1767, 19 ; must not be 
landed, 24 ; in Charleston spoiled, 
24 ; sent back from Philadelphia, 
24 ; value of, in 1780. 22g. 

Tea ships : sent out to Boston, New 
York, Philadelphia, and Charles- 
ton, 23 ; consignees asked to resign, 
23 ; arrive in Boston, 23. 

Tea tax : resistance to, misrepresented 
by Gov. Bernard, 19 ; petition 
against, received by George III. 
with contempt, ig ; legislatures to be 
suspended for resistance to, 19 ; re- 
sisted in all the colonies, ig. 

Temple of Virtue, 270. 

Ten Broeck, Brig. -Gen., at council of 
war at Fort Edward, 112, 113. 

Text and synopsis of sermons de- 
manded of children, 388. 

Thanks given at Valley Forge for the 
arrival of French reinforcements, 
152. 

Thompson, J., Lieut. -Col. in loth 
Massachusetts Regiment, 143. 

Ticonderoga : captured, 54 ; garri- 
soned, 67 ; cannon from, sent to 
Boston, 71 ; surrenders to the Am- 
ericans, 54, g2 ; letter of Gen. Pat- 
erson from, 105 ; letter of Asa 
Douglas from, 106 ; poorly pre- 
pared for an attack, log ; attacked 
by Burgoyne, log ; council of war 
at, no; a trap, in; evacuated, 
111-114; fall of. Gates censured 
for, 114 ; fall of, St. Clair censured 
for, 114; surrender of, a great 
shock, 116; surrender of, investi- 
gated by Congress, 116; Burgoyne 
obliged to abandon, 116 ; surrender 
of, received with joy in England, 
I rg ; recaptured by Americans, 132. 

Tilghman's, Tench, indorsement of 
Morse, 141. 

Time, method of recording, in the 
last century, i. 

Tioga County represented in Congress 
by Gen. Paterson, 397. 

Town meetings : privilege of, granted, 
16 ; granting of, given up, 16 ; for- 
bidden, 26 ; a safety-valve of public 
opinion, 39; of Lenox called in the 
name of Slassachusetts Bay, 44. 



486 



INDEX, 



Towns : support the Provincial Con- 
gress, 41 ; careful to be represented 
in the congresses and conventions, 
49 ; twenty, ask for pardon, 368. 

Townsman same as selectman, 1. 

Trade, Lords of, governed colonies 
since 1675, 15. 

Trade to bear the burden of taxation, 
land to be free, 339. 

Train bands not regarded with sus- 
picion, 41. 

Traitors made by discouragement, 98. 

Traston, Joshua, second lieutenant in 
Col. Paterson's regiment in 1776, 
96. 

Treason committed by the members of 
the Provincial Congress, 37. 

Treason of Arnold, 222, etc. 

Treaty : between France and the 
United States, 146 ; of peace, 300. 

Trenton, battle of, g8. 

Troops : sent to Boston, ig, 20 ; quar- 
ters for, refused, 20 ; encamped on 
Boston Common, 20 ; march to Bos- 
ton on a false rumor, 31 ; German 
(Hessian), hired to go to Massa- 
chusetts, 90 ; try to frighten Con- 
gress, 231. 

Tryon, Governor : expects to go to 
Albany, 128 ; publishes the con- 
ciliatory bills, 147. 

Tubbs, S., major in 14th Mass. Regi- 
ment, 143. 

Tucker, Hon. Judge Joseph : his rec- 
ord, 425 ; his speech at the unveiling 
of the monument, 426. 

Tupper, B. : Col. in 3d Mass. Brigade, 
143 ; Col. in nth Mass. Brigade, 
143 ; Col. in Paterson's brigade, 168. 

Uniform of Revolutionary soldiers, 
154. 

Uniforms scarce, 154. 

United States and France, treaty of, 
146. 

Upham, James, interest in lands in 
Maine, 321. 

Upham, Phineas, interest in lands in 
Maine, 321. 

Valley Forge : Gen. Paterson at, 144 ; 
memorable for inefficiency and mis- 
management of Congress, 148 ; 
memorable for the cabals against 
Washington, 148 ; misery of, result 
of mismanagement, 149 ; news of 
the arrival of the French reinforce- 
ments at Portland, 152 ; reverent 



thanksgiving at, 152 ; Washington 
left, to pursue Gen. Clinton, 162. 

Values, fall of, 97. 

Varick, Colonel : certificate of Gen. 
Paterson, 227 ; defended by Gen. 
I'aterson, 227. 

Varnum, Gen., letter of, 159. 

Ventilation in houses excellent, 392. 

Vermont, governor of, issues a pro- 
clamation against the rebels, 375. 

Vermont troops come to Bennington, 
118. 

Verplank's Point, British land at, 127. 

Village : choir, 391 ; life, 392. 

Virginia : first defied the Stamp Act, 
18 ; proposes an annual congress, 
31 ; Assembly of, dissolved by the 
governor, 31 ; instructs her delegates 
to vote for independence, 84. 

Vose, Elijah, Lieut. -Col. of 1st 
Mass. Regiment in 1783, 285, 299. 

Vose, Joseph : made colonel of Pater- 
son's regiment, loi ; takes the place 
made vacant by the promotion of 
Col. Paterson, 104; colonel in 1st 
Mass. Regiment in 1783, 285, 299. 

Walker, Wm. : adjutant in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, asks for his commis- 
sion, 68 ; petition of, 68. 

War : it was supposed would be short, 
64, 97 ; close of, 301 ; cost of, 305. 

Ward, Gen. Artemas : orders Col. 
Paterson to defend Fort No. 3, 57 ; 
gives the order of reinforcement at 
Bunker Hill too late, 58 ; fears an 
attack on Cambridge, 59 ; by cour- 
tesy commander-in-chief, 63 ; letter 
for Gen. Paterson, 103. 

Warren, Col., in Gen. Paterson's 
brigade, 143. 

Warren, Joseph : addresses the Boston 
town meeting, 50 ; speaker of the 
House, appoints Joseph Vose in the 
place of Col. Paterson, promoted, 
104. 

Washington, General : attends the ser- 
vices on June i, 1774, 29; appointed 
general and commander-in-chief, 
64 ; to make an army out of raw 
recruits, 64 ; not convinced that in- 
dependence was necessary, 65 ; or- 
ders Col. Paterson to remain at Fort 
No. 3, 67 ; takes command of the 
army, 69 ; compliments Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, 69 ; in a central 
situation at Cambridge, 69 ; letter 



INDEX. 



487 



Washington, General. — Contimied. 
to Lord Sterling, 73 ; sends four 
battalions to Canada, 82 ; raises 
first and second flags, 92 ; in New 
jersey, reinforced by Massachusetts 
troops, 93 ; foils Howe in New 
Jersey, 109, no ; ordered not to re- 
call the generals, 117 ; letter to 
Maj.-Gen. Paterson, 140 ; Gen. 
Paterson's letter to, 142 ; orders 
Gen. Paterson to fortify the left wing 
at Valley Forge, 146 ; cabals against, 
148 ; faith in, by the people, 148 ; 
reports the want of supplies, 149 ; 
describes the bad condition of the 
army, 149 ; orders all to be ready 
for a sudden movement, 161 ; pur- 
sues Gen. Clinton, 162 ; description 
of the forces after two years, 196 ; 
orders Gen. Paterson to be in readi- 
ness for an attack, 233 ; letter to 
Gen. Paterson, 234 ; confers with 
Rochambeau. 242 ; starts for York- 
town, 242 ; letter to Gen Heath, 
260, 265 ; letter of, to Secretary of 
War, 274 ; calls a meeting of the 
ofificers on account of Newburgh 
letters, 293 ; conclusion of his ad- 
dress at the Newburgh meeting, 294 ; 
extract from his proclamation, 301 ; 
writes to Congress about soldiers' 
land petition, June 17, 1783, 458 ; 
reply to Gen. Putnam's letter about 
Ohio lands, June 2, 1784, 461, 462. 

Washington, Berkshire Co., rebels 
march on, 368. 

Waterman, Sergt., pardon asked for, 
207. 

Watertown Congress, letter of Col. 
Paterson to, 53. 

Watertown, Third Provincial Congress 
meets at, 54. 

Watkins, Captain, in Col. Paterson's 
regiment, 52. 

Wayne attacked by Clinton at Mon- 
mouth, 164. 

Webb, S. B., complaint of, 244 

Webster on the progress of the United 
States, 405. 

Welch, Joseph, first lieutenant in 
Col. Paterson's regiment in 1776, 
96. 

West Point : obstruction at, 82 ; Gen. 
Gates commands'at, 160 ; chosen by 
New York to fortify, 160 ; Gen. 
McDougall commands at, 160 , forti- 



fied by Gen. Kosciusko, 160 ; com- 
manded by Gen. Paterson, 175, 299 ; 
width of Hudson River at, 182 ; (ien. 
Washington's letter about, 183 ; 
chain at, contract for, 187 ; what we 
owe to, 193, 194 ; orders at, 199, 
200; without supplies for a fortnight 
in 1780, 205 ; distress at, 205-208 ; 
capture of, would have been a tri- 
umph to Sir H. Clinton, 222 ; Gen. 
Paterson in command at, 240. 

West Springfield in possession of Day, 
352. 

West Stockbridge, rebels assemble at, 
and fight there. 368. 

Wethersfield : Patersons settle in, i ; 
John Paterson ( tst) lived in, 5. 

Wheeler not to be pardoned, 376. 

White, Peter : ensign in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, 52 ; first lieutenant 
in Col. Paterson's regiment in 1776, 
96. 

White Plains, army moves to, after 
the battle of Monmouth, 167. 

Whitemarsh, Gen. Paterson at, 140. 

Wilcocks, Samuel, ensign in Col. 
Paterson's regiment, 52. 

W^iley, J., major in 14th Mass. Regi- 
ment, 143. 

Wilkins, Wm., second lieutenant in 
Col. Paterson's regiment, asks for 
his commission, 68. 

Wilkinson, Gen., letter of, 114. 

Wilkinson, James, deputy adjutant- 
general, reports on the retreat at 
Ticonderoga, 113, 114. 

William and Mary grant a new charter, 
27. 

W^illiams, Captain, in Col. Paterson's 
Regiment, 52. 

Williams, Ebenezer, deputy-adjutant- 
general to Gen. Paterson, 330. 

Williams, John, signs a petition about 
wolves, 316. 

Williamstown and Adams, Gen. Pater- 
son disperses rebels from, 368. 

Winslow, a major in loth Mass. 
Regiment, 143. 

Winthrop, Gov. John : has the charter 
of the colonies, 27 ; does not sur- 
render the charter, 27. 

Wolves, petition for killing them, 316. 

Women of the Revolution heroines, 

94. 95- 
Woodbridge, a major in loth Mass. 
Regiment, 143. 



488 



INDEX. 



Woodbridge, Enoch, adjutant in Col. 
Paterson's regiment, 152. 

Woodford's, Gen., brigade, 168. 

Worcester : Congress, 30 ; prevents the 
opening of the court, 35 ; county 
convention at Leicester, 341 : court 
at, prevented, 344, 350 ; convention 
called at, 349 ; the governor advises 
the courts to adjourn, 350 ; County, 
rebels attack citizens in, 370. 



Wright, Josiah, ensign in Col. Pater- 
son's regiment, 52. 

Writs of assistance issued, 11. 

Wrong-doing not entirely British, 62. 

Wyman, Wm., captain in Col. 
Paterson's regiment, 59, 96. 

Wyoming, massacre of, 166. 

Yorktown, Washington starts for, 
244. 



Plate I 



PATERSON GENEALOGY. 



279 



imes Paterson, of Scotland 

1664, d. Dec. 2. 1750 
Married, Nov. 30, 1704 
Mrs. Mary Talcott 

d. Sept. 28, 1712 
Married ad wife 
Sarah Chittenden 



b. Feb. 14, 1707-8, d. Sept. 5, 1762 

Married, Jan. a8, 1730^1 

Ruth Bird 



Mary 
3ec. 5. 1731, d. Oct. . 1789 
Married, April 18, 1751 
John Pierce 
1729, d. Oct. I. 1783 



Married. Dec. 30, 1754 
James Lusk 



Mary 



d. Oct. 



John 

1752, d. Aug. 6. 1788 



Sarah 
X768. d. Ja 



James 



Anne 
b. Dec. 27, 1736, d. 

Married, Jan. 24, 1759 

Rev. Stephen Holmes 

b. June 4, 1732. d. Sept. 13, 1773 



Rulh 




John 


b. June 16. 1739. d. Oct. 3, 1777 


b. 


1744. d. July 19, 1808 


Married, April 7, 1774 




Married. June 2. 1766 


Jedediafi Strong 




Elizabeth Lee 


b. 1738, d. Aug. ai, 1802 


b. 


1749, d. July 8, 1841 



Josiah Lee 

b. Oct. II, 1766, d. March 12. 1846 

Married, Jan. 3, 1788 

Clarissa Hvde 

b. April 27, 1767, d. April 16. 1837 

Hannah 

b, Aug. 24, 1769, d. Jan. 21. 1803 

Married, Aug. 11. 1785 

Azariah Egleston 

b. Feb. 23, 1757, d. Jan. 12, 1822 

Polly 
b. 1773. d. Aug. 19, 1790 

Ruth 

b. Aug. 6, 1774, d. Feb. 10, 1&42 

Married, Sow 14, 1797 

Ira Seymour 

b. March 18. 1776, d. Sept. 29, 1866 



1784, d. 1784 

John Pelrce 

I. May 5, 1787. d. June 3, 184a 

Married, July 22, 1809 

Sally Osborn 

July 22, 1786, d. May . 1847 

Mariah 
Feb. 9, 1790, d. April 23, 1865 
Married, April 10, 1808 
Samuel Kilborn 
Nov. 27, 1783. d, Jan. 31. 1862 



/ 



Josiah Lee Pater 
b. Oct. II. 1766, d. Mar 

Married Jan. 3, i 

Clarissa Hyd< 

b. April 27, 1767, d. Ap 



Elizabeth 
b. June 13, 1796, d. Dec. 18(31, 1882 

31. 1880 



51 



o, 1884 

k 

h 1865 



:8, 1838 
D, 1862 



Frederick William 

b. June 10, 1809, d. Feb. 11, 1882 

Married, Sept. 15, 1834 

1st wife, Louisa Margaret Taft 

b. April 7, 1801, d. Dec. 9, 1839 

Married. Jan. 15, 1846 

2d wife, Louisa Mariah Peck 

b. May 6, 1820, d. 



Lewis Augustus 
b. Oct. 10, 1835 



Oiren E. Gibbs 
b. d. June a?. 1*46 

George Augustin 
b. Sept 13. 1811 

Mamed. Mav a8. 1837 

isi wife. Benha Sirong 

b. M»y 13. 1815. d. Nov. 11. i&is 

Mamed. Oct 5. 1847 

ad wife. Mindwell Woodbndge 

b. March ao. 1815. d. Oct. 3. 1849 

Married, April 22. 1851 

3d wife. Anna Mulford 



Married. Mav 15. 1833 
Theodore B, Hamilton 
b. March 31, 1810 



Julia Elirabeth 
.. 3. 1838. d. July 8. 1838 



weUWo 



George Henry 
b. April la, 184S. d. 
Married 

Nellie Palmer 



Guerdon 
d- 

Edith 



Married 

George Washington 
b. Feb. a. 1847 

Stella Bradley 



Joseph Stanley 
b. Oct. 6. 1855 
Marriei 

Elsie Lichery 



John E. Paterson 
June ao. 1853 
Married. Jan, 4,1882 
Mary K. Thompson 



b. April 14, 1792. a. Sept, 15. 1869 

Married, Jan. 16. 1811 

Joseph Stanley 

b. Oct. 23, 1^. d. March ao. 1867 

I 

f Clarissa 

b, Nov. 17, 1811, d. 

Married. Dec. 31, 1845 
I Isaac Sines 

[ b. June 18, 1798. d. July 11. 1876 

Eliza Maria 
b. March 14, 1814, d. 

Married. Ja" " '** 



Charles Seymoui 

b, Sept. 9. 1815. d, Marcl 

Married, June 4, iJ 

Sarah H. Benne 

b. Aug. 10. 1822, d. Jan. 



b. April 10. 1823. d. Nov. 6, iSgs l 

Married. Jan. 1. 1857 

Russell C. Bales 

b. Oct- 8, i8a6, d. Aug 3. 1891 J 



Married. Oct. 17. —^- 
Sarah Elirabeth Williams 
b. Jan. 10. 183a. d. 

b. April 26. 1837. d. 

Married. July 7. 1880 



Elizabeth Harriet 

, 1796, d. Dec. 18, 184a b. May 13. 1798, d, Sept. Z^j. i 
Married, March ao, 1823 
James Sheldon 
b April 19, 1800. d. 



b. June 24, 1826 

Married, Nov. 24 
Alfred Augevi 



b. May 6, 1837, d. Dec, 6, 

I Frederick P. 

b. March 26. 1859. d. 
I Married. Jan. 12. 1888 



b. No 



817 



James Walworth 
b. April 35, 1830 

Married, Jan, 20. 1856 
Mary Eleanor Peabody 
b. Jan. 8, 1832 



Elizabeth Sophia 

b. Sept. 6. 1835 

Married, Nov. 27, 181 _ 
Theodore F. Gilleland 

b. Jan. 16, 1834 



185s 



b. March 17, i8ot >, d. March 17, 1870 

Mamed, Feb. 1, 1827 

ist wife, Elii abeth Sheldon 

b. Nov. 5, 1805 . d. Dec. 10, i8a8 



b. Auff. 16, 1888, d. 



Thomas Jefferson 
b. April 10, 1804, d. Feb. 13. 1885 



Married, Aug. ._,, 

Mary Boyd 

b. Feb. 15, 1856, d. 



Married, Nov. 11, 
Alice Way 
b. Dec. 5, 1856 



b. Jan. 21, 1807, d. Dec. 31, 
Married, Sept. 15, 1831 
Esther Atchinson 
b. April 21, 1809. d. May 31, 1880 



Mamed, Dec. 34 
Noyes Willia 
b. Nov. 37. 1829 

Frances E. 

b. Nov 27, 1834, d Oi 

Mjr...H 



b.J. 



Frederick William ") 

ine 10, 1809, d. Feb. 11, 1882 

Married, Sept. 15. 1834 *- 

1st wife, Louisa Margaret Taft I 1 

b. Apnl 7, 1801. d, Dec. 9. 1839 I 

^larried. Jan 15. 1846 Lewis Augustus 

2d wife, Louisa Mariah Peck b. Oct. 10 i%k 
b. May 6, 1820, d. •" 



lies Vanderbeck 
>834. d, July 24. 1865 

Charles H. 
b. Feb, 14. 1836, d. Dec. 18, 1838 



Lettie E. 
Ian. 15, 1861. d. 
Married. Jan. , 1882 



Hannah Patersun 

b. Aug. 34, 1760, d. Jan. 31, 1603 

Married, Aug. 11, 1785 



r 



Auk. 18. 1841 
:d, June 35. 186 
■gc D. Johnson 



b. April 19, 1783, d. March 35, 1847 



b. May 30. 1813, d. May 9, 1814 



b. Oct. 3, 1814. d. May 6. 1870 

Married, Oct. t, 1838 

Sophia Dix 

b June 14. iftai, d. Oct. 35. 1856 

Maria 

b.Nov.l4.ldl5.d.Feb.9.l898 

Married. Oct, ao. 184a 

J. S. Schcnck 



I24. d. 1 



b. Oct, 34, 1824, d. May 6. 1853 



b. Aug. 38. 1817. d. Nov. IS. 1865 



,. 1838 b. Mar. 17, 1857, d. Mar. 19. 185I 



i 



George Washington 

b. July 17, 179s, d. Dec. 6. 1863 

Married 

^ ist wife. Sophia Heriot. Dec 13, i8ai 

I h. Nov. 12, 1797, d, Nov. 27. 1824 
2d wife. Mrs. Martha Pochee (Du Bose). May 5. 1840 ) 
b. d. Sept. 21. 1865 S 



b. Aug. 16. 1330. d. 



Spencer Byxbe 
b. Dec. 10. 1S41. d. April 19, 1844 



George Egleston 
b. Sepl. 6. 1894 



George W. Egleston 
b. March 27. 1817, d. June 6, 

Married, June 6. 1849 
Anna C, Sayer 
b. June 10, 1829, d. 

b. Mar. 30. 1818, d, Sept. 30. 
Married Sept. i. 1840 
Andrew H. Patterson 



Mary Elizabeth 

b, June 12. 1821. d. Jum 

Married. Jan. 15, ] 

Holdamond Crary 

b. May 31, 1812. d, July 17, 



Elizabeth Byxbe 
). 1841 



840 



George Frederick 
n. 18, 1843. d. March 15. 1896 
Married April 25, 1S71 
Haitie Griffin 
n. II. 1853. d. 

Charlotte Elizabeth 



Gordon Byxbe ! J 

' Oct. 7. 1891 I I 



Married March 12. 1865 
Charles Bacon Stewart 
. July 8. 1841 

Charles Egleston 
. Sept. 30. 1849 

Married Oct. 29, iSSS 
, Hattie Hodgdon 

Lb. Aug. 17, 1866 



( James F. D. 

b. July 25. 1858 
-J Married, Nov. 34. 18I 

Harriet Arnold Bishc 
[ b. Oct. 27. 1866 

C Sarah Egleston 

I b. April 8. r86a. d. April a 
-^ Married. Dec. 14, i8( 

Francis Cooper Lawren< 
I b. Aug. II. 1857 



Elizabeth Lanier 
b. Aug. 19, 1892 

Mary Mildred 
b. May 2b, 1894 

George Evans 
b. July 13, 1896 



b. Aug. 17. 1864 

Married. Oct. 7, 1884 

rancis Randall Applet 

b. Aug, s, 1854 



Married. April 17. 1838 
Sarah Jesup Stebbins 
b. Dec. s. i&)9, d. Sept. 30. 1 



David Stebbins 

b. Nov. 33, 1830 

Married. Nov. 17, 1858 
Fannie Hawicy 

Thomas 

b. Dec. 9, 1832 

Married May 3. 1865 

Augusta McVickar 

ie22. 1S28. d. Jan. 9. 1895 

Theophitus Stebbins 

b. July iS, 18 35. ''■ Nov. 12, 1838 

Sarah Elizabeth 

7. 1S37. d. April 18. 1S9S 

larried, Oct. 7. 1857 



b.Jo 



b.A 



i Lniiie 



Marned. Jan. 8. 1863 

E\]:i B.-lles 

b. Aug. aa, 1843 

Georec WjLshington 

b. Sept. 1. 1843 

Married, Sept. Ig. 1883 

isl wife, Mary Buchannan Nfaclean 

b. Sept 9, 1861. d. Aug. 15. 1889 



I I,. Oct. 15, 1S67. .1. Nov. 20. l86i 

I Sar.lh Jesup 

I. b. Oct. 6. iSSs. d. Feb. S, l838 

b. Nov. 17. 1863, d, Aug. 14. 1886 

Adelaide 
b. Sept. 30. i8e>7. d. Feb. 18. 1877 



adv 



ilarried, 



L-pl. 



b. Apfil 6. 1848. d. Nov. 19, 1886 

Married, Dec. 5. 1883 

Isabella Bissell 

b. Jan. ao. 1863. d. May 3, 189= 



b. Oct. 6. 18S5. d. Feb. 8. 1888 



PLi 



b 
b. 1 



Rutba Belden 
d. 8io, d. Sept. , 1812 



George 
d. 



Harriet Elizabeth 
b- April 15, 1817 



[ariet Emma 
Dec. 20, 1S60 
;d Dec, 20, iSa"^ 
leynolds Shelto | 
July 7, 1858 fvord 



5, d. Dec. 31, 1868 



Harold B. 

1862, d. June 2Sn Warren 



I any Tobey 
1864, d. Oct. 4, 



Iward Brooks 

bert Seymour ti« AlvnrH 



b. Oc 
b. Se] 
b. No 
b. Oc 



Brainard 



ic'J'^a 



b. April lo. 179*. a Apnl 30. 1876 

Muned. Oct. . 183a 

An&OQ Seymour 

b. April 14. 1795. d. Much I, 1S9: 



b. July 39, 1800. d. Dec aS. 1838 

Marhed. Dec. 10. 1833 

John Peck Osboro 

t>' 1793. d. Jan. 6. i86a 



b Ocl as, 1803. d- Dec. 

Married, Ian, a. i( 

John D. bmith 



r Charles Alvord 

b. April II. 1808. d. Nov, 

, < Mamed l!t( wiff^ Ian t 



.1877 
836 

, i860 



Mamed. July a?. 1880 
Luc>- Jane Carter 
b. Aug. 8. 1857 



b. Aug. 
b.SepL 



George Franklin 

b. Aug. 4, 18314, d- ^cpi. 37. 1864 

Mamed. ^epI. 15. 1848 



Mart Ann 

b. March 29. i8a8. d. Nov. 30. 186S 

Married. Maj- 1 * 



b. Feb. ao, 1834. d. Apnl x, il 

Lucy Jane 
b. May 13. 1S36 

Married. Aug. 3. 1858 
H. Wistar Rugg 
b. Nov. 13. 183* 

Frederick Ira 
b. Dec. II. 1838 

Married. Sept. aa, 1867 
Ruth Beah 
b. Feb. 24. 1848 



- 1030. 
Mamed. De- 

Mar>' Denney 



Elizabeth Eleanor 
b. June 33. 1853. d 

Married. Jan v>. 1871 
M>Ton Leslie Baxter 
b. Jan. 18. 1840. d. Jan. 5. 1895 



1813. d. 

ried. Sept. ag. 1856 
Nathan FranlUin Handy 



George Osbom 
b. Dec. 9, 1845 
Married. Nov. 37. 1879 ^ — . 



Hariet Emma 

b. Dec. 20, 1S60 A 

Married Dec. 20. 1S83 t 

John keynolds Shclton f 

b. Ju^, 185S I 

e a6. 1864 

1. 4. iWs 

Edward Urook-s 

Rotwrt Seymour 

b. March ts- »866. d Aug. 14. 1866 




b. Feb. 5. 1874. d. Sept. 15. 1678 



Ruby Mary 
b. Mavas, 1850 

Mamed. Oct. 30. 18 
F. W. Burdick 
b. May 15. 1854 

Charlci Seymour 
b. Sept. 13. 1863 
Married. March 
Cclcstinc Salisbur>- 
b. Aug. 6. 1&71 

Jennie Osboni 
b.;jane 18. 1875 



b. July I. 1863 
Married. Oct. 31. 188 
Jos. A. Whitfield 



;8<H 




Mary Amelia 
b. Feb. 15. 1829. d. 
Married ist husband. Oct. 3 
John H. Mason 
b. d. April ic 

Married 2d husband. Jan. i 
J. Frank Johnson 
b. Nov. 3. 1831 



Nathan Daniel 
March 27. 1832. d. 
Married. 

B. Gallager 



Frances Marii 
Feb. 28, 1834, d. 

Married. Aug. 26, 



Pomeroy 
b. Sept. 17, 1835. d. 

Married. Nov. 7, iS6a 
Eliiabeih McFarland 
b. May 8. 1843. d. 

Franklin 
b. Feb. 10. 1S40. d. Jan. 15. 1841 

Margaret Stewart 
b. June 21). 1941 

Married 1st husband. 1863 

John White 

b. 1839. d. 1863 

Married 2d husband, Feb. 20. 1S66 | 

George Tappan Bradley > 

b. July 26. 1837 ) 



b. May 13, i8ao, d. 



Mar>- Jane 
b. Sept. 6. 1836. d. 
Mamed, Feb. 16, 1864 



b. April 33. 18^5. d, Dec 31, 
Wilhafo Wanen 



b. Dec. 33, 1840, d 

George Robbio: 






Sarah Braioard 

MarshaU 



Charles Franklin 
b. April I. 1843. d. Sept. 25. 



1644 



Edward C. 
b. Oct, II, 1875 
Married, Dec. 17. "Sg^ 
Liriie N. Blcucher 

Arthur B, 
b. March 30, 1877 


b. 
b. 
b 
b. 


Albert Belding 
June 17. 1S45, d. 

Married. Oct. i, 1S74 
Agnes M. Shoup 

Jan. •., .856 

Charles Seymore 
M.nrch 10, 11:53. d. 

.Married, April 3, 1876 
Loetb Brooks 
May 21. 1854 




Franklin S. 
b. Nov. u, 18S3 


1 

Arthur C. 
b. Aug. 4, 1877 
Married, Feb, 37, 
Helen L. Hami 








Florence M 
b. May 4, lS3o 








Franklin B, 
b, Aug, 6, i88a 

Edward S, 

b. Jan. as, 1884 

Clara L, 

b, Feb. 18, 1886 


^^ 






Harold J, 
b, April ao. iSqa 



Gertrude Belden "i 
b. April 2g. 1S67 1 




George H. Kightmire | 

b. June28. 18S4 J 

Edward Hubbard 
b, Dec. a6, 1S68 

Kirk Belden 
b. April 6, 1871 


Howard Bradley 
b. July la. 1S91 

Kr.lph Henn 
b .\;.ru iSj-. 


b, Feb. 10, 1S73, d, March 8, l8q; 




George Tappan 
b. Nov. 15, 1676. d. July 7, 1896 

Leonard Chester 

b. April 4. 1879 

Evangeline 
b, Oct. 10, l88a. d. March s8, 1886 





Plate V. 



John Peirce Paterst )n 
b. May 5, 1787, d. June 3, 1842 

Married, July 2a, 18 09 

Sally Osborn 

b. July 22, 1786, d. May , 1847 



Frances Venillia 1 

b. May 18, iSil, 

Married, Nov. 22, 1832 

Greenleaf Moores Woodbury 

b. July 12, i8ii,d. April 14, 1873 

Benjamin Franklin 
b.Oct. 15. 1815. d, Feb. 19,1817 

William Osbom 
b, June 15, 1818. d. July 15, 1820 

John Peck 
b. Dec. IS, iS20, d. June 6, 1822 



Frederick James 
b. Oct. 28, 1833 

Married, June 29, 1856 
Martha Wallen 
b. Feb. 3, 1835 

John Paterson 

b. Aug. ID, 1837 

Married, Sept. s, 1867, 

ist wife, Emma A. Clark 

b. Feb. 22, 1847, d. Sept. 7, 1886 

Married. Dec. 29, 1890 

2d wife. Belle Remick 

b. Dec. 2S, 1865, d. July 20, 1895 

George Clare 
b. Sept. lo, 1843, d. Jan. 23, 1863 



Frank 

b. June 13, 1857 

Married, Sept. 4, 1878 

Belle Ralls 

b. Jan. 31, 1857 



s — 



Ida Bell 
b. Dec. 15, i858,d. July2i, 1861 



Lillah Genevieve 
b. Sept. 7, 1870 

Married, Sept. 20, 1894 
Ferdinand Alexandre Wattenberg 
b. Feb. 2, i860 

Mabel Frances 
b. Aug. 22, 1873 

Clark Greenleaf 
b. April 17, 187S 

John Paterson 
b. Oct. 9, 1882 

Emma 
b. Jan. 10, i834 



George 
b. May 8, 1865 

Georgiana 
b. May 8, 1865 

Married, Aug. 31,1 
William B. Wildman i 
b. April 7, 1867 J 



i- 



Frances V. 
b. June 22. 1879 

Frederick R. 
b. May 23.1881 

Greenleaf M. 
b. Mar. 8. 1886 

Walter 
b. Feb. 13, 1892 



Martha Marie 
b. Feb. 3. 1889 

Karl W. 
b. Aug. 3, 1890 

Raymond Frank 
b. April 7, 1S95 

George William 
b. May 31. 1896 



Bertram Paterson 
b. Oct. 25, 1S90 

George F. 
b. Maich 9, 1892 

Christina 
b. July 18, 1894, d. April 18, 

Catharine 
b. Feb. 9, 1896 

Edna M. 
b. April 5, 1S91 

William Paterson 
b. Aug. 16, 1895 



1895 



Frederick 
b Aug. I, 1829 

Married, Aug. 2, 1848 
Rachel Kenedy 
b. d. 

Married 2d wife. June 17, 18 
Christina Hendrickson 
b. July 25, 1840, d. 



Charles 
b. May 9, 1859, d. Oct. 24, i86t 

John A. 

b. Jan. 30. 1S61 

George S. 
b. Nov. 25, 1663 

Married. Sept. 24, 18S9 
Rosamund Ward 
b. July 9, 1869 

Frances A. 
b. June 28, 1865 

Married, Oct. 25. 1889 
Richard G. Hargrave 
^b. July 14, 1S66 



r Jennie M. 

b. Feb. 13, 1869 
■; Married, March 5, 1890 

I William B. Messenger 

[b. Nov. 18, i860, d. May 5, 1S95 

Anna 
b. Feb. I, 1S72, d. July 3, 1S73 

Ethel 
b. Nov. n, 187S 



Plate VI. 



Lucien K. 

b. Mar. 25, 1811, d. Sept. 3, 1849 

Married, Nov. 30, 1834 

Rhoda Ann Ball 

b. May i, 1812 



Eliza 

b. Feb. 27, 1838 

Married, Dec. a8, 1864 

1st husband, T. D. Toan 

b. Sept. 9, 1837, d. Feb. 28, 1878 

Married, Dec. 19, 1879 

2d husband, David King 

b. June 27, 1827, d. Oct. 27, 1884 



David 
b. July 14, i3i3, d 
Married, Nov^ 
Harriet E, 
b. Mar. 3, 1J14, d 






Paterson 

, d. April 23, 1865 

^pril 10, 1808 

I Kilbom 

}. d. Jan. 31, 1862 



•i Maria 

. d. Nov. 9. 1846 
5ec. 28, 1842 
I. Hascall 
d. 



lerick 

d- July s, 1846 



Ge 
b. Aug. 24, 181 



Marie Paterson 
b. April 3, 1843 



Jennette 

b. I-eb. 27, 184s 

Married, Sept. 3, 1872 

Elihu T. Davis 

b. May 27, 1843 

Lucien Sedgwick 
b. Nov. 27, 1849 
Married, Aug. 6, 1872 
Fannie L. Duncan J 



L. Duncan 
b. May 26, 1873 

Cora May 
b. Aug. 7, 1877 

Grace Davis 
b. Sept. 10, 1879 



Robert F. 
b. Aug. 10, 1886 



Reeve Paterson 
b. July 8, 1890, d. Aug. 16, 1891 



Plate VI. 



Maria Paterson 

b. Feb. 9, 1790 . d. April 23, 1865 

Married, J \pril lo, 1808 

Samue 1 Kilbon) 

b. Nov. 27, 178; 1, d. Jan. 31, 1862 



284 



Lucien K. 

b. Mar. 25, 1811. d. Sept. 3, 1849 

Married, Nov. 30, 1834 

Rhoda Ann Ball 

b. May t, 1812 



Oavid K. 

b. July 14, i3i3, d. Nov. 13, 1864 

Mame<l, Nov. 21, 1836 

Harriet E. Ball 

b. Mar. 3, i>i4, d. 



Soph: a 
b. April 3, 1815, d. May 8, 1830 



Nanc; / Maria 

b. May 14, 1817 . d. Nov. 9, 1846 

Married, I )ec. 28, 1842 

Henry ^ i. Hascall 

b. d. 



George 
b. Aug. 24, 1819. d. July 29. 



John Paterson 



b. May 19, 1822, d. Oct. 10, 1858 b. April 6. 1825, d. June 23, .847 b. May 5, ,8^ d 



Qeiduna 



April 2., .830 b.Oc..3...8;TApril,4..85. 



Eliza 

b. Feb. 27, 1838 

Married, Dec. 38, 1864 

ist husband, T. D. Toan 

b. Sept. 9, 1837, d. Feb. 28, 1878 

Married, Dec. 19, 1879 

2d husband, David King 

b. June 27, 1827, d. Oct. 27, 1884 

Marie Paterson 
b. April 3, 1843 

Jennette 

b. teb. 27, 1845 

Married, Sept. 3, 1872 

Elihu T. Davis 

b. May 27, 1843 



Lucien Sedgwick 

b. Nov. 27, 1849 

Married. Aug. 6, 1872 

Fannie L. Duncan 



Fret lerick 

d- July S. 1846 



L. Duncan 
b. May 26, 1873 

Cora May 
b. Aug. 7, 1877 

Grace Davis 
b. Sept. 10, 1879 

Robert F. 
b. Aug. 10, 1886 

Reeve Paterson 
b. July 8, 1890, d. Aug. 16, 1891 



orge 
9. d. 








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